


The Other Side

by melbie



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon, F/M, Family, Foe Yay, WallArt, roychesh
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-03-11
Updated: 2013-10-27
Packaged: 2017-12-05 00:27:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 54,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/716781
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/melbie/pseuds/melbie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Artemis is a member of the League of Shadows and has been taken hostage by the Team. How will she react when they want her to join the good guys? Spitfire, Roy/Cheshire.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue - The Deal

**Author's Note:**

> DISCLAIMER: Young Justice is owned by DC Comics, Warner Bros., and - unfortunately - Cartoon Network.
> 
> NOTE: This is an AU where Artemis is a member of the League of Shadows, but not as Tigress. The beginning takes place shortly after episode 6 "Infiltrator" and assumes that Roy and Jade have met before their confrontation in episode 10 "Targets."

Cool night wind whipped through the assassin's hair, penetrating the holes her mask and crawling up along her neck. She sprinted across the roof of a high-rise apartment building, keeping her body low to the ground to avoid being seen by any civilians, though not many were out this late at night. According to the slip of paper she had found folded around an arrow the previous night, the rendezvous spot was just around the corner. She reached the edge of the roof and skidded to a stop. Gravel skittered off the edge where it clattered rhythmically down the fire escape and disappeared into the black night.

"You're late," said a low, clipped voice.

She straightened, not bothering to turn around. "Maybe you're just early. Then again, you always were an overachiever, weren't you, Roy?"

Red Arrow stepped out from the shadows of the roof's entrance, arms crossed and a scowl firmly etched on his rugged features. He'd be a lot more handsome if he smiled once in a while, she thought.

"You're the one who called me out here," he said. "You could at least show up on time."

"Aww," she purred. "Anxious to see me again?"

"Enough with the games, Cheshire. What do you want?"

"Just making small talk. I come in peace, I swear," she raised her arms in mock surrender. "But since you want to cut to the chase, let's get right to it." She lifted herself up onto a large pipe feeding into the building and perched there with her knees crossed. "I want to make a deal with the Justice League."

A fierce gust of wind punctuated her words, rattling empty cans littered on the ground and sending the hem of her dark green tunic flapping furiously. In seconds he was at her throat holding a collapsible crossbow under her chin.

"What are you playing at? What could you possibly want with the League? Better yet, what makes you think they'd trust you?" The corners of his mouth were pulled back in a fierce snarl.

Cheshire glanced with no real emotion at the arrow tip resting on her collarbone and sighed. "Always so quick to attack, aren't you? I know what you're thinking, but it's not a set-up. I'm not on a mission for anyone. The Shadows don't even know I'm here. This is my own personal request."

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't just end you here."

"Oh, I can think of one." She looked down pointedly. Roy followed her gaze to find one of her kunai knives, sharp, glistening, and pointed directly at his heart. He hadn't even seen her draw it. There was no choice but to withdraw his crossbow. "There, now, that wasn't so hard. Besides, we both know if I wanted to kill you I would've done it already."

He scoffed. "Unlikely."

"Agree to disagree." She slid her knife back into its pouch and hopped down.

Roy moved back several paces to keep a safe distance between them. He knew it was dangerous to stand too close to her without a weapon. The girl was unpredictable, to say the least. "Fine, tell me about your deal. I'll be the one to decide whether or not the League needs to hear it."

Her tone of voice held none of its usual mirth. "Fair enough. But I assure you, it's an offer they won't be able to resist." A thin manilla folder was conjured from nowhere. She tossed it to the ground in respect of his caution. "The details are in there."

Curiosity got the better of him. Roy picked up the folder, keeping his eyes fixed on the assassin's movements the whole time, and scanned the first page. His eyebrows mounted higher with the surprise the more he read. "This is..." He smirked. "Huh. Just when I think I've got you figured out."

Cheshire shook her head. "I'm one puzzle you don't want to solve." She crouched by the nearby fire escape, poised like the cat she had named herself for. "You still know how to reach me, I take it? Because I'll be needing an answer right away. Tell them it's a limited time offer."

He snapped the file shut. "What proof do you have that it's not a trap?"

"Oh, it's a trap all right. But not for you, and not for the League."

The archer regarded the assassin standing before him. Her faceless mask was half illuminated in the slivers of moon light. He could only imagine what kind of expression she was making under there. "I still don't trust you," he said firmly.

"Smart man," she replied before melting into the darkness. Roy would later chalk it up to the night air playing tricks on him, but he could have sworn he heard a touch of sadness in her parting words.


	2. The Ongoing Storm

The storm outside should have been the first sign that something would go wrong.

Artemis stood out in the hallway waiting for the angry voices to die down. Through the opposite rain-spattered window she could see silent waves pummeling against the black shores of Infinity Island. Sportsmaster had just finished assigning a mission to other members of the League of Shadows and was currently dealing with an argument between Hook and Black Spider. The two had clashed over a failed mission, something about a failed assassination.

The two assassins were squabbling in low voices until Sportsmaster slammed one massive fist on the circular conference table, sending a tremor through Artemis's spine.

"That's enough," he said in a voice of deadly calm. "I don't care whose fault it was, the mission was still botched. Roquette might still be alive, but the objective hasn't changed. Maybe if you two could pull your heads out of each other's asses long enough to work together, this kind of mistake won't happen again."

Black Spider curled his hands into fists and Hook snarled, "Work together? We're not the goddamn Justice League. It's every man for himself in this world. You should know that better than anyone."

In less time than it took for Artemis to gasp, Sportsmaster had seized Hook by the veined throat and slammed him against the wall effortlessly as though the broad-shouldered man was nothing more than a rag doll. Sportsmaster hissed something menacing out of Artemis's earshot, and then dropped Hook to the floor. He and Black Spider left the room at a fast pace, glancing angrily at Artemis on their way out. She swallowed. This probably wasn't the best mood to catch him in, but she knew better than to arrive late once summoned.

She knocked on the door softly. "You wanted to see me?"

Her father crossed the room to a computer system and waved her in with a low grunt. He pointed at a seat near the screen. "Close the door and sit there."

She obeyed, trying not to stare at the smear of blood on his fingers from when he had threatened Hook.

Lawrence Crock was an imposing statue of a man. Whenever Artemis was in close proximity of him she could see the various throbbing muscles in his arms clench or relax as his mood changed. His hands scared her the most. There were large and thickly muscled with abnormal strength. Strength enough to shatter her wrists in a single squeeze. When she closed her eyes she could see him looming over her and her sister as they held each others arms for support while their mother lay sprawled on the ground behind them. She shook her head and images left her, but the dark shadows the memories cast on her heart would not fade so easily.

A mechanical beeping brought her back into the present. Lawrence had opened a video window and pressed play.

He removed his white hockey mask and placed it on the table. "This is security camera footage from last night's mission," he said.

Artemis's breath caught in her throat. Of course she had been under surveillance. She braced herself for what she knew the camera would show. Sure enough, a grainy black and white picture of her firing an arrow filled the screen. There was no sound to accompany the images, but there was no need. It was there, clear as day.

"Tell me," Lawrence paused the video feed. "What do you see?"

She stared at the screen with emotionless eyes. "Me shooting an arrow. Why, you see something I don't?"

"I'm more interested at  _where_ you shot that arrow. Not at the target, that's for goddamn sure." He zoomed in on the video and replayed the clip. She could clearly see the arrow land at the feet of a group of civilians and her own fuzzy form waving at them to go back. The civilians had heeded her words in time for a cloud of rubble to fall from overhead.

Lawrence played the clip twice more for emphasis. "Care to explain what happened there?"

She spoke with a degree of confidence that she did not possess. "Look, they were going to get in the way of the mission so I made them clear off. What's wrong with that? We didn't have time to take care of any stupid casualties. Besides, we apprehended the target without any problems. The way I see it, I did us a favor." She crossed her arms and waited for her father's response.

"I don't care about the outcome or about your excuses," he growled. "I care about your instincts." He rapped the screen with his knuckles. "One shot. That's all it takes. That arrow could've been your last resort to take down the target, and you wasted it on protecting some idiotic bystanders."

"It's a good thing it wasn't my last arrow then." Her nails dug into her skin of their own accord. That was definitely the wrong thing to say, but she hated having to justify her actions all the time. If Jade had decided to pull a crying child from a burning train wreck, he would have just assumed she had her reasons, not give her the third degree.

The muscles in his forearms rippled with anger and his voice had reached a dangerously low pitch. "I thought you knew better than to be smart with me."

"Yeah, well, family trait, I guess."

His hand came swinging around faster than she could blink. The mere force of the slap made her stumble out of her chair. She gripped the edges of the table just to stay upright while the welt on her cheek stung like hundreds of bees poking at her skin.

"Let that be a lesson to you then," he said in the same remorseless voice. "Next time your focus strays -"

A knock at the door interrupted his threat. He spun around to find his eldest daughter leaning against the door frame with a lazy smile on her lips.

"Sorry to interrupt," said Cheshire. "But we need Artemis. The boys at the museum downtown need some back-up."

It took everything Artemis had not to sign in relief. She turned to walk towards her sister a bit too eagerly. Before she could move, a large hand gripped her upper arm. Lawrence's harsh voice spoke directly into her ear. "We're not in the business of helping the innocent, kid. We do what it takes to get the job done. And if you can't handle that, you can no longer be considered an asset to this organization anymore." An angry red imprint of his fingers flared up when he released her arm. "Don't screw up."

She gave him a tight nod in reply and all but ran to the door. She walked with Jade to the helicopter pad in silence. As they passed the kitchen area, Jade ducked in to grab an ice pack from the freezer and tossed it to Artemis.

"Put that on your face," she said. "And don't look like that."

"Like what?"

"Like someone just drowned your cat," she smirked. "Stay focused this time, little sister, and maybe he'll hug you when it's over."

Artemis frowned. "Right." Her sister was being unexpectedly nice today, not that either of them were ever taken aback by Lawrence's fits of rage.

Then again, Jade had been walking around headquarters with a certain spring in her step for the past week looking very pleased with herself. Artemis knew why; her sister had found a new toy to play her sadistic mind games with. Probably Green Arrow's washed-up old sidekick, the one who started flying solo. Not that it mattered much to her. The two girls had never shared much of a sisterly bond.

Soon afterwards they were flying above a local museum where their fellow League members were in the midst of a robbery. The sisters landed on the roof with equal agility and waved the helicopter off. Thankfully there was no storm in Gotham and the moon gave them enough light to find their way to the wide stained-glass skylight. Jade's eyes glinted beneath the dark eye sockets of her feline mask.

"We're just back-up tonight," Cheshire explained as they crouched together on the rooftop. "If everything goes to plan, we shouldn't have any heroic interference. They should be occupied with our decoys on the other side of town."

Just then there was a loud explosion as the museum's wide front doors blew open with enough force to shatter the surrounding windows. The burglary alarms immediately began to blare from inside and, several miles away, the police could be heard responding with their own obnoxious sirens.

Artemis raised an eyebrow. "You were saying?"


	3. The Museum Heist

Cheshire cursed loudly and dug around in her robe for an earpiece. At the same time she pulled out a slim black remote that Artemis didn't want to know what its purpose was.

"What the hell's happening down there?" she barked into the mic. Artemis could hear the low buzzing of panicked and angry voices responding to her. "Never mind, never mind! I don't care whose fault it is! We'll back you up, just get the diamond and get out!" She threw down the earpiece and crushed it under her heel. "Bunch of idiots," she muttered, then turned to Artemis. "Looks like the junior Justice League showed up. Could be worse, but we still can't underestimate them. I'll go in and retrieve our guys. Just stay hidden and do that archer sniping thing you do."

Cheshire took a running leap and burst through the stained glass window as though she were descending violently from the heavens. Artemis rolled her eyes and began crawling along the ceiling beams. The explosion and shattering glass masked her presence as she crept smoothly to a corner of the room and perched herself in the midsection between two high beams, watching the action below like a bird of prey. Cheshire had landed right in the middle of the wide exhibition hall where she was surrounded on all sides by the group of super powered teenagers, all of them battle ready. Artemis recognized most of them from TV and jobs; Robin, Kid Flash, and Aqualad stood at the forefront, though the green-skinned girl levitating above their heads was new. There was also what looked like a much younger version of Superman, if the red "S" symbol on his black T-shirt was any indication.

"Nice entrance," the Boy Wonder smirked.

Cheshire was practically glowing with anticipation, though she knew fighting all of them was not an option. "Well, there's no fun in being back-up if you don't get to show off a little." She glanced up at the rafters where Artemis was nestled.

Artemis understood a signal when she saw one. She shot an arrow into the space between the heroes and her sister. An enormous plume of smoke emitted from the arrow with a loud  _hiss._  She could hear the teenaged heroes coughing and yelling for each other. Cheshire had flitted backwards from the smoke and reclaimed the diamond from their partners, but the teens weren't going to let her go easy. The young Superman lookalike punched the ground with an explosion of force, creating a ripple effect that dissipated the smoke. The teens charged forward to take on her sister.

Artemis shot a zip-line arrow across the ceiling. It was dangerous to stay in one position for too long or they would find her. She surveyed the scene before sliding away. Cheshire was taking on both Aqualad and Robin at the same time, dodging and weaving around their attacks with her trademark grace. Kid Flash had just been thrown backwards into a large urn and caused the polished stone to crack into several huge chunks that pinned him in place.

Artemis could hear his voice floating above the crashes and yells. "You guys have no respect for historical artifacts," Kid Flash complained.

"Dude, focus!" one of his teammates shot back.

It was a perfect opportunity. The young speedster was lying right there in the open, and she knew he couldn't vibrate his molecules through solid surfaces like the adult Flash. No time to move. No escape. Her arms acted of their own accord, reaching back to her quiver and notching an arrow. Motions she had gone through time after time.

_One shot._  The words still rang in her ears, skipping back and forth around her head.  _Focus...you can no longer be considered an asset...don't screw up._  Her fingers began to shake from the strain of keeping an arrow drawn for too long. Hesitation. Since when did she hesitate?

She stopped. Eliminating the junior Justice League was not part of the objective. She was just back-up.  _You live to run another day, little man,_  she thought.

Artemis placed her bow on the zip-line, but before she could slide off something caught her eye below. She counted four super teens on the ground when there should have been five. Who was missing?

A blow from nowhere answered her question. She sailed through the air and landed clumsily on an old totem pole across the room.  _The Martian, of course, she's related to Martian Manhunter, she can turn invisible._ Artemis realized it too late. Another unseen strike caught her from behind and sent her flying right into the fray. The Martian girl materialized and called out to her teammates. Suddenly all eyes were on her. She exchanged glances with Cheshire, who nodded and took advantage of the distraction to drop another smoke bomb. Before it could take effect, however, Aqualad leapt forward to cut down the cables Cheshire meant to escape on with the two watery blades that extended from shining tattoos on his arms. Atlantean magic was so troublesome. Their partners were already headed for the ceiling, but Cheshire and Artemis would have to find a different way out.

Cheshire seized Artemis's upper arm and dragged her through several exhibition halls until they could no longer hear the shouts from the junior heroes. Excluding two bruises from the Martian girl, Artemis was virtually unscathed, but Cheshire had obtained a fair collection of scratches along her arms and a long rip through the middle of her green tunic.

"One of those idiots grabbed the diamond from me before they split," Cheshire said in a low voice between gasps for air. "The objective has been achieved and the chopper's waiting above, but they won't wait long. If we can get through the front of the building, they'll be able to pull us up."

"Is the front our only option?"

"It's the only way our partners think we're coming," Cheshire grimaced.

Artemis glowered at her sister, but said nothing. They wouldn't have this problem if Cheshire hadn't stomped on that earpiece earlier, but petty complaints would get them nowhere. "So what now?"

"We need a distraction," she said decidedly. "But first we split up. You take the East wing, I take the West wing. If all goes well, we meet up in the entrance hall."

"And the distraction?"

"Leave that to me," Cheshire bounced the thin black remote in her hand. Artemis could practically hear the maniacal smile on her sister's lips.

Artemis bit her lip. It was a good plan, but risky. There was no guarantee that both of them would make it out with a group of young heroes blocking their way, and after checking her quiver she only had two smoke screens, one zip-line, and a few other trick arrows left. But Cheshire looked fairly confident in whatever this distraction was, and she would never lie about their chances. For once Artemis was grateful to be on a mission with her sister. If it were anyone else, they would have left her in the dust by now. Maybe family did count for something.

The sound of echoing footsteps made both girl spring to their feet and take off for their respective hallways. Artemis sprinted through a prehistoric exhibit without any trouble, but saw the Martian girl and Robin fighting Cheshire in the next room. Their fight had stretched across the museum, it seemed. She made a sharp turn and ducked through a side door to the main exhibition room from earlier. The shards of glass and fragments of pottery crunched violently underneath her running feet. Only two rooms to go.

A blur of yellow and red cut her off, sending her crashing to the floor. Kid Flash circled around the room and came flying back at her. With no time to think she let instinct take over, jumped, and managed to scramble on top of a statue that had been decapitated at the waist in the brawl. Not even stopping to breathe, she knelt into a shooting position and shot two arrows at the blur. They missed, of course. Kid Flash finally skidded to a stop in the middle of the room.

"Come on," he called out in a mocking tone. "You're not gonna hit me like that."

Immediately she regretted not finishing him off him earlier. It was stupid to waste normal shots on a target that never stopped moving. She felt around in her quiver and drew back a fresh arrow. "I guess not," she replied with a cocky grin.

The speedster reacted as she thought he would. He began running towards her to avoid the arrow, but Artemis's target was the floor in front of her. The arrow released a blast of blinding light, causing Kid Flash to stumble and run headlong into the nearest wall. Artemis shielded her eyes and burst into the main entrance hall, flushed with victory.

She could see Cheshire up ahead and was relieved that her sister had also been successful. The night air was clear and wafting through the partially destroyed front doors, which had been blown clear in the initial blast. Cheshire turned at the sound of Artemis's approaching footsteps.

"I made it!" Artemis grinned. "Let's g -"

_Boom!_

An explosion went off directly above Artemis's head. She had barely leapt out of the way when the ceiling caved in. The polished marble arches disintegrated into rubble. The wide stained glass windows burst like exploding flowers and mixed colored glass with the charred rubble that rained down in front of her. Immediately a line of flames sprang up in between them, effectively blocking the entrance. Surrounded by fire and stone and glass, Artemis stared in horror as Cheshire stepped calmly through the door, then turned back to look at her.

"Sorry, little sister. Didn't I say? It's every girl for herself in this family." Cheshire pulled off her mask so Artemis could get one last look at her harsh smile. Her sister's features flickered through the roaring flames. "See you on the other side." And she disappeared into the night.


	4. The Interrogation

Artemis almost didn't notice the second explosion until it nearly blew her off her feet. She fell backwards, scraping her palms on the rubble. Her heart was pounding a million miles per second.

Cheshire had – no, Jade had betrayed her. There had been plenty of time for both of them to escape, but...

She clenched her fists. The distraction. Of course. It was her. Cheshire intended for Artemis to be left behind to deal with the teen heroes while she and their partners hightailed it back to Infinity Island. She had been careless. She should have known.

Someone gave a loud throat-clearing cough behind her. Artemis turned to find herself surrounded by none other than the super kids. They didn't seem happy about the half-destroyed building. But Artemis's mood was worse. She reached back for an arrow, only to be greeted with an all but empty quiver. Most of the arrows had fallen out during the explosion. The only other weapon at her disposal was the crossbow strapped to her thigh. Her fingers twitched over the thigh holster like a cowboy in a Western film, daring her enemies to move.

Several batarangs appeared in Robin's hand. "Don't even think about it." The other sidekicks settled into their respective fighting stances. Artemis locked glares with each member of the team, with the exception of Kid Flash, who was rubbing his eyes angrily. "I'm still seeing spots," he grumbled.

There she was. A scorching line of fire behind her and five super-powered opponents in front of her. Hopelessly outmatched, next to no equipment, no transport home, and about to be taken in by a bunch of do-gooder teens. Not the most ideal of situations. No one had to tell her what her remaining option was.

It took some effort to unclench her fists and toss both bows to the ground. Feigning nonchalance, she raised her hands in mock surrender. "Fine, I give up. Turn me over to the law, or whatever." She nudged the bow forward with the toe of her boot.

Kid Flash took the bait, just as she'd hoped. With the prospect of poetic justice for his retinas in front of him, he stepped forward to pick up her bow.

But Aqualad was the first to realized his mistake. "Wait! Don't–!" the Atlantean started.

Kid Flash turned to look at his teammate, giving Artemis the prime opportunity to lunge forward and plant her boot in the side of his face. The speedster was thrown back in shock. Before the rest of the team could stop her, Artemis plunged her last smoke screen arrow into the ground.

"Again! Really!?" an exasperated voice shouted from within the cloud.

 _Well, maybe if you didn't keep falling for it…_  Artemis allowed herself a small grin of triumph and pelted for a partially destroyed window.

If she could just make it out onto the street, the junior heroes would have a much harder time catching her.

But her escape was in vain. It seemed they actually had been anticipating the possibility of her retaliation. The younger looking Superman was lying in wait. His punch, when it came, felt like an iron hammer burying itself into her stomach.

Artemis's breath caught in her throat just in time for the second blow at the back of her neck. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head and consciousness slipped away, propelling her into darkness.

* * *

Wally West was unhappy.

He had already been having a crap day before they were summoned to stop the robbery at the museum, and it had not gotten better. In the space of an hour, he had been almost blown up, blinded, and kicked in the face all by the same girl.

Fine, the explosion wasn't her fault, but as far as Wally was concerned she was still responsible for ruining his day. It didn't help that everyone was so set on keeping her around.

The team was observing the unconscious girl through a sheet of one-sided glass while she lay in her cell at the Cave. A graph of her vitals beeped and flashed on a nearby monitor while Kaldur briefed the team about something boring. Wally felt his attention drifting. In his opinion, they should have shipped her off to jail or given her to the League, but no, that would've been too easy.

"I still think this is a bad idea," he said in a singsong voice. A circle of frowns met his words. It was childish of him to cut off Kaldur's team leader speech, but his jaw was still throbbing from the impact of archer girl's foot.

"Nevertheless," said Kaldur in a tone of steady calm. "We have our orders."

"They're stupid orders."

"Come on, Wally," Megan wheedled. "We at least have to try."

He hesitated, but not even Megan's sweet words could sway him this time. "Well, you guys go ahead and play nice with Blondie, but I refuse. As far as I'm concerned, she shouldn't be our problem."

"We took her in. That makes it our responsibility to perform our duties to their fullest," said Kaldur with an air of finality. "I must present our report to the League. Robin, I trust you can handle this?" He looked pointedly at Wally.

"No sweat," Robin grinned while Wally exclaimed, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Remember, do not let on to the mission or she may become hostile. We are trying to establish trust and open communication."

Wally snorted loudly. Trust? Yeah right.

Robin waited for Kaldur to leave the room before elbowing Wally sharply in the ribs. "Dude. Let it go already."

"Hey,  _she's_  the one who kicked _me_ in the face."

"I know. I was there."

"Then I don't know why you think I'll be nice to her after that."

"Uhh, guys?" Megan interrupted and pointed at the window. "I think she's awake."

* * *

Images spun viciously around in Artemis's head. Clouds of dust and glass. A fiery explosion. A feline mask with dark pits where the eyes should've been. A blur of red and gold. The creaking sound her bow made whenever she drew back an arrow that used to give her comfort. A feeling of control. Now it was just a missed opportunity.

Her eyes snapped open. She looked up at the unfamiliar ceiling, half expecting it to come crashing down on her. Survival instincts kicked in, causing her to shoot straight up to a sitting position.

Nausea instantly overcame her. She doubled over and waited for her vision to stop spinning. Colored spots flashed madly in the corners of her eyes, but she blinked them away to get a better look at her surroundings.

A few sweeps of the room told her enough. It was a cell. A pretty nice cell from what she was used to. A bed, a bathroom, a bookcase, a wide mirror set into the wall (probably a one-way window), and two armchairs facing each other. It was nice furniture too. The sheets twisted around her previously thrashing legs were soft and smelled like detergent.

The bed was really comfortable too. That pissed her off. Even the handcuffs binding her were made of a sturdy but not uncomfortable material connected by a thin luminescent red wire nearly a foot long so she could use her hands. Definitely high tech. Less could be said about the suspicious metal choker around her neck. That was going to chafe. Still, as far as hostage situations go this could be a lot worse, she thought.

A door behind her slid open with a mechanical whir. Artemis bolted to her feet and nearly toppled over from the rush of blood to her head. Two very unwelcome arms rushed forward to help steady her. Artemis jerked her shoulders away from the green-skinned girl, who looked almost timid.

"Oh, sorry, just making sure... I'm Miss Martian, by the way." She attempted a handshake, then remembered Artemis's bound hands and quickly redirected her hand to her hair. "Sorry, so sorry...about that. Should've known better. Um, can I call you Artemis?"

There was no response to that, only a dry look.

"I'll take that as a yes, then," the girl held out a small parcel. "Oh, and I brought you fresh clothes. Your uniform is a bit...messy."

They both glanced down at her clothes. Her cowl was gone, but they hadn't touched her uniform. Her tight dark green pants were torn in several places where glass and falling rock had scratched her and her boots were sporting matching scorch marks. The sides of her arms were covered in small scrapes and coated in a thin layer of ash.

"There's a shower in the back if you want to use it."

Artemis raised one skeptical eyebrow. Was this chick for real? What were any of them thinking? They clearly didn't get the memo about how to treat prisoners of war.

Miss Martian gave what she must have thought was a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, you're totally safe here. I mean, technically you're our...well, hostage. But we'd rather think of you as more like a guest." She moved over to one of the armchairs. "I'll just...wait here until you're done. Also, that collar is waterproof so you can wear it in the shower. Not that it will come off actually...but yeah, I'll be here!" She gave another friendly smile.

Artemis gave the Martian girl a once over and judged as not much of a threat. She actually seemed pretty sincere. No intended hostility whatsoever, but Artemis had the feeling that she could still take care of herself if attacked. She supposed she should consider herself lucky. Had it been Batman or a member of the Justice League who had entered the cell, she might have felt more like a caged animal. But not with this red-haired girl, who looked as though Artemis might lunge and bite her at any moment.

Figuring there was no harm in it, she snatched the clothes from the Martian's hands and stalked over to the bathroom. A thorough scan of the room told her there were no cameras, for modesty's sake. That could be used to her advantage, she thought. There was a sink, toilet, and small shower with a few little bottles of shampoo and a bar of soap. The bare minimum, though Artemis hadn't been expecting even that much. She wondered if it had been the Martian girl's idea.

Artemis turned to look at her reflection in the spotted mirror above the sink. She was a mess. No surprises there. Her thick blonde ponytail had slackened and stray hairs were either still falling out or stuck to the side of her face. Her body felt sticky with sweat and dirt. But it was nothing compared to how heavy her head felt, bogged down with anger and hopeless despair. She felt numb even as the scalding water poured over her, washing the dirt and dried blood from her skin. When she closed her eyes she could see Jade's mocking smile through ghostly falling rocks and blazing fires.

She tried thinking of escape plans, contingencies, what-if situations. But what would it matter when Lawrence found out she had been captured? Even if by some miracle she escaped for from the clutches of these super teens, right under the nose of Earth's own Justice League, there was no guarantee the Shadows would take her back.

Scratch that. They definitely wouldn't. No matter how much she could insist that she hadn't given up her allies, they would never believe her. They might even put a hit out on her. There was nothing to return to.

But then again, there was nothing wrong with being a solo contractor. Plenty of underworld legions needed muscle, and Artemis's skills were well known. Lawrence had trained her from a young age for that purpose, after all.

Feeling slightly more confident about her odds, she switched off the water and looked at the bag of clothes. Dark jeans, a white top, and a black jacket with three-quarter length sleeves. Could be worse. She saw what that Martian girl had worn at the museum. What kind of self-respecting super-powered woman wore a schoolgirl skirt to battle? After dressing herself, she noticed her reflection again. All squeaky clean and in civilian clothes, she could have been anyone. Just a normal girl on the street. She'd forgotten what it felt like.

Miss Martian was still sitting in the far armchair, sure enough. Artemis had been half hoping she wouldn't be there, but decided to oblige her and sit in the opposite armchair. The two girls sat in awkward silence.

"I'm glad the clothes fit," she said in a tone of forced cheer.

Artemis rested her elbow on the arm of the chair to prop her head up, staring at the wall with a clearly bored expression. "Yup."

After a few seconds of silence she could suddenly felt a familiar pressure in her head. She looked up and realized the Martian girl's eyes had glazed over; she was staring very pointedly at Artemis, but not actually seeing her.  _Right_ , she remembered.  _This one's a telepath._

"If you're trying to see inside my mind, don't bother," Artemis said.

Miss Martian gave a small jolt of surprise and her eyes snapped back into focus. "W-what?"

"I've been trained by the best to resist mind control." She tapped her head. "Nothing's getting out of here unless I say so."

The green girl threw a desperate look back at the window, probably to signal her teammates on the other side. If they were watching, they could probably tell this wasn't going well.

Artemis relaxed back in her chair while the Martian girl thought desperately for a new topic.

"I like your hair," she said. "It's very...yellow."

Oh god, she was trying to make small talk.

"But you knew that already. Hello, Megan!" She lightly bonked herself in the head.

And she had a catch phrase. At that moment, Artemis would have chosen to be hung by her ankles over a fiery pit of lava than stuck in this room.

The doors slid open and Robin stepped into the room. Miss Martian could not have looked more relieved. Artemis too was glad for an actual challenge. "Reinforcements from the Boy Wonder, huh?"

"Just thought I'd introduce myself," he grinned in a boyish fashion.

Artemis narrowed her eyes. "Wow, how old are you? Eleven? Twelve? Has your voice even changed? Man, they recruit young for the side of justice, don't they?"

She could tell Robin was trying to maintain a friendly smile, but it was definitely taking some effort. Good. She wanted to get under Boy Wonder's skin if it meant they would both leave her alone.

"I guess you already know me, then," he said. "We're just here to let you know a bit about the situation."

"Let me guess," she tapped a finger on her chin, looking thoughtful. "Teenaged Superman out there hit me, so then you probably drugged me, took me to your secret hideout, and are planning to either transport me to jail or ransom me back to the League of Shadows. I hate to disappoint, but if you  _are_ trying to blackmail the Shadows, you picked the wrong hostage. I'm not exactly high up on the villain food chain."

"We're not ransoming you," Robin replied.

"Also, that was Superboy who knocked you out. Not Superman," Miss Martian added, eager to be a part of the conversation.

"Anyway," Robin gave her a meaningful look. "Our team has been charged with keeping you here as a part of intelligence gathering."

 _That_ was a surprisingly honest answer. She was beginning to wonder if they were really serious about keeping her hostage. "Uh-huh, I see. And if I don't want to stay here...?"

He smirked. "You could try, but there's absolutely no escape. Not even with help from the outside."

Artemis leaned forward, interested in calling the Boy Wonder's bluff. "You seem awfully sure of yourself. How do you know I won't break out of here myself or escape while you're all out on a mission?"

"We've taken a few precautionary measures. That collar monitors your heart rate, adrenaline, and movement. If you even think about trying to harm anyone or tamper with it'll deliver a strong pulse to paralyze your motor functions and knock you out for a few hours. You wouldn't make it two steps before it drops you. Also, Batman made it." He gave an evil smile. "I really wouldn't recommend escaping."

Damn brat. There was no point in challenging that. With the help of Batman and all the League's geniuses, that sort of device was entirely possible. "You sure did cover all your the bases, I'll give you that. Doesn't mean I'll talk."

Once again, Miss Martian leaped into the conversation. "That's okay! I mean, you shouldn't feel pressured or anything...I know you just woke up and everything's a bit overwhelming, but we're not going to force you so say anything...even though we're kind of threatening you, I guess. Are we threatening her?"

"A little, yeah," said Robin.

"Oh...well, there's still no pressure!"

Every sugary sweet word the Martian girl said seemed to scratch at Artemis's last frayed nerve. This idiotic interview needed to end. Now.

"You've been awfully nice to me so far so I'm going to give you a little piece of info, free of charge." The girl leaned forward eagerly. Artemis suppressed a smirk; this was almost too easy. "Go ahead and think of me as a guest if you want, but to me you're just jailers. I don't know what you're planning or what you think I'll tell you, and I don't care. But given the half the chance, I will gladly step over your burning corpses to get out of here." She crossed her legs and sat back, treating the Martian with a frigid smile. "Come back when you're ready to let me go."

With that the conversation was officially over. Robin gave an awkward laugh, whispered something in Miss Martian's ear, and the two left. The door clicked shut behind them, and silence took their place.

The peaceful quiet should have felt blissful and comforting, but all it did was leave Artemis alone with her thoughts. Thoughts that were a bit too focused on replaying the events of the previous day, and lamenting over her failures. She buried her face into the crook of her elbow to hide it from the cameras.

This day needed to end. Now.

* * *

Wally cleared his throat. "I didn't want to say this but…"

"Then don't," said Robin.

"It's okay. You don't have to say it," Megan's eyes dropped to the ground. "I was horrible, I know. I barely know how to befriend normal humans, let alone one who fights against us."

Wally immediately changed his tune. "No, no, babe, you did great!" He put a comforting arm around her shoulders. "It's not your fault she's all mean and homicidal. Really!"

Robin and Superboy gave him both a withering look; Superboy looked especially ready to hit him. He gave them both a shrug and sheepish grin.

"Why don't we wait until Kaldur gets back? He's better at this kind of thing," he said when Megan slid out from under his arm.

Robin shook his head. "He's still briefing Batman and the others. Who knows how long they'll keep him there? Besides," He put his hands on his hips confidently. "We can totally handle this without him! Superboy, you wanna go next?"

Superboy leaned against the coach with his arms crossed. "No thanks."

"Come on, we all have to at least try."

"I'm not good with people," he leveled Robin with a stubborn glare. "Pass."

Robin put both his hands up in a gesture of surrender. "Oookay, then. KF, you're up."

Wally crossed his arms, mirroring Superboy. "No way."

"Ten minutes, that's it. Just ask her a few questions, and if she isn't cooperative, you can leave and we'll try again tomorrow."

Wally wrinkled his nose. Visiting every day sounded even worse. He relented. "Fine, but I make no promises." He left the control room and disappeared up the hallway. The team watched the monitor for a moment.

Robin broke the silence. "Does anyone else have a bad feeling about this?"

His teammates nodded in unison.

"Good, it's not just me.


	5. The Speedster

_Recognized: Aqualad. B-02._

The zeta tube entrance emitted a flash of light and Kaldur strode into the central mission control room. His team was grouped around the holographic computer, staring intently at the same window in the top corner of the screen.

"Any news from the League?" asked Superboy, not once tearing his eyes away.

"We are to wait for further instructions. Nothing more," Kaldur followed their gazes to watch the surveillance feed. "How is he doing?"

"It's…hard to say," Megan replied. Her delicate arms were settled on her hips and she squinted at the screen as though trying to decipher the scene before them.

Sound from the cameras had been enabled, but the room was completely silent. Kid Flash was slouching in the large armchair with a scowl that matched Artemis's in terms of intensity. Their mutual distaste for each other was so palpable it was unnerving to watch.

On the occasions where they actually made eye contact, both of their frowns would deepen in tandem, and they both looked away furiously. The rest of the time was spent adamantly staring into space.

"How long have they been glaring at each other?" Kaldur asked.

"Almost five minutes," said Robin, who was also squinting at the screen.

Superboy raised an eyebrow. "Have any of you ever seen him go this long without talking?"

"Are you kidding?" Robin shook his head. "He doesn't even stop to breathe while eating."

The rest of the team grimaced at their separate recollections of Wally eating. It was never a pretty sight.

Kaldur sighed. "M'gann, link us up."

* * *

Wally had always kept a habit of keeping his nails microscopically short, but he was digging them so hard into his folded arms that he could actually see red half-moon shaped marks forming on his skin. He didn't know what to say, and the blonde villainess across from him wasn't giving any sign of speaking. If anything, she looked more reluctant than he did.

Aqualad's voice popped into his head. Megan had activated the psychic link.  _Wally,_ he said.  _Your silence does not aid our mission. You must initiate a rapport. Ask her something._

_Like what?!_

_Anything, so long as she actually responds._ Robin chipped in.

He thought for a moment. Anything, huh?

Wally cleared his throat. "Isn't it kinda dumb to use your real name as your alias?" He didn't need the psychic link to hear his teammates' groans. "I mean, wouldn't it be really easy to make that connection? I thought you Shadows were all about staying hidden."

Artemis narrowed her eyes. "Doesn't it kinda suck being called 'Kid' all the time?" she shot back. "It doesn't exactly scream maturity. Just the opposite, in fact."

Ouch. Walked right into that one.

"How are your hands?" he decided to ask. "You scraped them when you fell, right?" Her knuckles tightened in response. "Y'know, I would think that, as an archer, you'd take better care of them."

Instead of rising to his rudeness, she straightened in her seat and gave him a haughty smile. "How's your face? It's looking a bit purple."

He frowned. In spite of his accelerated healing, he still sported the fading outlines of a purplish green bruise. "Just great, thanks to you."

"You were asking for it."

Both teens lapsed back into silence. Less than one minute of conversation and they had already reached a stalemate.

Wally could hear his teammates vaguely through the psychic link, supplying him with advice and conversation topics and the occasional groan of frustration when he refused to acknowledge them. He knew perfectly well how childish he was being, and he didn't care.

This whole thing was screwed up. Ever since childhood, Wally had idolized the heroes he saw on the news, flying around saving people, smiling and waving at news cameras, or else refusing the adoration and insisting it was their sacred duty to the world. Especially the Flash. When he found out the Flash was his uncle, words couldn't describe how happy he'd been. Even if they were only related through marriage to his Aunt Iris, he liked to think it meant there was heroism in his blood. Like he was meant to become a hero.

To him, heroes were born knowing how to use their powers to protect people, and fighting for the greater good. But villains were different. Fine, most of them weren't born that way. They were usually products of their own environment driven to crime by the dark card life had dealt them. But no one could go against their own blood so easily. Even if this Artemis girl did turn over a new leaf, Wally didn't think he could ever trust her.

It's almost a shame, Wally thought. He had always been partial to blondes. And this one did have a pretty killer body.

Now that he thought about it, this was the first time he had gotten a proper look at her since the museum. Dressed in civilian clothes with freshly washed hair, she could have been anyone.

He would never admit it, but during the mission he had accidentally found his eyes straying a bit too long on her uniform, particularly the cropped green shirt with a lighter green arrow on the chest. And, he hadn't noticed before at the museum, but her voice had a hoarse, throaty quality to it, like the words rolled around in her throat as she spoke them. It was kind of…

He willed the thoughts to fly out of his head.  _No, no, bad thoughts! We don't think like that about violent angry girls who kick people in the face. Think about something else. Think about Megan, or Black Canary, or Wonder Woman, or that cute Asian reporter lady on the news, or that girl from gym class who always wears tiny athletic shorts…crap, this is getting me nowhere._

While Wally struggled to contain his teenaged mind, Artemis picked that moment to shift in her seat and rested on her propped up elbow so that a few strands of damp blonde hair swung across her face. The smell of scented shampoo and detergent formed an inescapable bubble around her.

Wally ruffled his bright red hair in frustration. He could  _not_  stay in this room any longer. "Aaah, I'm no good at this. Okay, here's the deal. You should join us."

Immediately, the voices of his teammates clamored around inside his head in varying degrees of shock and frustration.

_WALLY!_

_Dude!_

_What are you doing!?_

_This is_ not  _part of the plan._

"Oh, shove it, you guys!" he exclaimed at the mirror. "There's no point in beating around the bush, we might as well tell her up front." There was a bit more telepathic shouting. "Well, I warned you sending me was a bad idea!"

Artemis waved a hand to get his attention. "I'm sorry, could you stop arguing with the wall and repeat that last part? You want me to what?"

"Join us."

"Us, meaning...?"

"Our team."

"As in you, Boy Wonder, Aqualad...?"

"Plus Miss Martian and Superboy. The team."

She settled back into her chair, looking him up and down suspiciously. "So…you want me to quit the Shadows? Give up crime? Walk the path of righteousness?"

"Yup."

"And this…this is your master plan? This is why you guys brought me here?"

"That about covers it."

There was a moment of silence where she stared at him, waiting for the punch line, and, when it didn't come, she burst into laughter.

"You…you can't be serious!" She wiped a tear from her eye, clutching her stomach from laughing.

His frown grew deeper. "Believe me, I think it's a stupid idea too."

"It is! That is, without a doubt, the dumbest idea I've ever heard!"

He waited for her laughter to die down before pointing out, "Well, unless you want to spend the next ten years in Belle Reve, it's kind of your only option."

She wiped a tear from her eye. "Really? My only option? When was that decided?"

"Well, it's not like the Shadows are going to take you back." He noticed her lips purse at this and wondered if he had touched a nerve. "Oh yeah, we know how you guys operate. Do you really think Ra's al Ghul is going to let you back in the club once he finds out we captured you? And even if they did send people to retrieve you, as long as that collar's on, you're not going anywhere."

Score. Wall-man: one. Blondie: zip.

Her mouth compressed into a thin line. All traces of humor were gone. "Whatever the Shadows are planning, it's none of my business and it's definitely none of yours."

"Why shouldn't it be your business? Aren't they your teammates, or business partners, or whatever you bad guys call each other?"

"My  _associates_ and I don't share information so easily," she said. "You know, on the off chance one of us is captured and tortured. So far you guys have gotten a head start on the capturing part, but not so much with the torturing. Not that I'm complaining."

On looking back at the situation, it may have been smarter to let the subject drop and try again later. But Wally West was not one to mince words. A smaller, more vengeful part of him just wanted an edge over the young villainess, and if that meant pushing her buttons so be it.

"Yeah, sorry 'bout the lack of torture," he said carelessly. "We're good guys and all. Kind of violates the moral code."

"You must be so disappointed."

"Not really. There probably wouldn't be much challenge in it." He relaxed and put his hands behind his head, talking casually to the ceiling. "I don't know why they wanted you specifically. In terms of hostage value, you're not even on our watch list. I bet if I pulled up the database I'd fine your name under a footnote listed as 'harmless' or 'not a threat.'"

Artemis gave a short, humorless laugh. "Take this collar off and I'll show you a threat."

He ignored her. "I've got a better idea. Let's take bets on how long it'll take the Shadows to realize you're gone."

The jumping muscle in Artemis's forehead became more pronounced, though she said nothing to betray her anger.

 _A bit harsh, man,_ said Robin.

 _Wally, be careful, I think you might be going too far,_ said Megan's voice sounding all concerned in his head. How adorable.

 _No worries, Megalicious, I've got this._ He grinned. "I guess it was pretty cool of Cheshire to sell you out like that," he gave a fake little gasp. "Sorry, is that a touchy subject? Is the pain still fresh? Do you still feel betrayed, double-crossed, the need to restore your honor?"

Her hands began to visibly shake from the strength being put into clenching them. All her pretenses of levelheadedness were beginning to crumble, and he heard her mutter, "God, just shut up and go away."

But he wasn't done by a long shot. "Makes me wonder who come out on top in a fight between you two. Then again, she  _is_ a big name villain and you're, what, the back-up sniper? What percentage do you get? Do they even pay you or are you more of a volunteer villain? Are you really a –?"

" _SHUT UP!"_

Before his brain could fully comprehend what was going on, the archer had lunged forward. A taut, muscled arm swatted out at his face. He closed his eyes. There was no way to avoid the incoming blow.

Luckily for Wally, the collar around her neck activated immediately and the promised electrical shock shot right through her body like a strike of lightning. She contorted slightly with wracking pain and fell against the armchair, just barely able to stand.

He relaxed and lowered his hands, which happened to be the opening Artemis needed to swipe at him again. Before he could react, she managed to scratch his cheek before a second shock brought her down. She fell to the floor, breathing raggedly against the carpet. Sparks of energy popped and spit in a veritable halo around her.

A drop of liquid rolled down Wally's cheek. He touched a hand to his face and it came back smeared with blood. His eyes widened in shock. That girl had actually managed to draw blood while being driven by nothing but cold fury. It was lucky he had moved when he did or else he could have ended with something more like a broken nose.

He noticed her watching him and quickly wiped the shock off his face, but it was too late. She had won this round. They both knew it.

Wally felt the cut again. It was surprisingly deep.

Through shallow gasps for breath she managed to give a ruthless smile and whispered, "Souvenir," before passing out cold.

Final score. Blondie: two. Wall-man: one.

Another drop of blood dripped onto his hand and ran down his elbow.

Make that Wall-man: negative five.

* * *

Wally West was in the worst mood of his life when he left the cell. A mood that only worsened when he found his friends waiting for him with despairing expressions on their faces. He immediately jumped on the defensive.

"What?" he demanded. "I got her to talk!"

"You also got your butt kicked. Again," Superboy pointed out, unhelpfully.

"Your actions endangered the mission," said Kaldur with something bordering on actual anger.

Wally groaned and ran a hand through his hair. "Okay, I hate to be the one to point this out..."

"No, you don't," said Robin.

"But I said right from the start this plan was going to crash and burn," he finished with an irritated look at his best friend.

"Kid…" Kaldur began.

"Hey, you guys were all like, 'Let's bring her in, what could go wrong, we can help her,' and I was like, "No way, that's a horrible idea, she's evil,' but you all were like, "No, no, Wally, we're the good guys, we have to do good things.' And now we're in a lose-lose situation so all I can say is I told you so." He folded his arms, daring them to contradict him.

Robin rolled his eyes. "You're just holding a grudge."

"She. Attacked. Me!"

His teammates frowned, silently reminding him it was his fault for goading her. He ignored them. "Look, we gave it a shot. Tomorrow, we cart her off to jail, maybe do some memory wiping, and that's that, problem solved." He wiped his hands together as though brushing off the entire situation. "So, if you guys don't mind, I'm gonna tend to my injury." And he stomped away.

The room was significantly less tense when Wally left. None of them even felt it necessary to point out that with Wally's accelerated healing, the scratch would be gone in a matter of minutes.

Robin rubbed his hands together. "So, while KF goes to deal with his loss of dignity…" he turned to Kaldur. "Wanna give it a shot?"

Kaldur nodded gravely. "I will try to salvage the situation."

"You definitely couldn't hurt," said Superboy.

* * *

Artemis awoke to the sour taste of metal in her mouth and, even more bitter, the feeling of unparalleled shame. The memories floated around in her head like fuzzy echoes, but her most recent accomplishments sprang to mind with perfect clarity.

Bile rose in the back of her throat when she remembered Kid Flash's smug face and his infuriating words. No matter what lines he might have crossed, she still felt like an idiot, losing her temper to the Flash's glorified fanboy.

She was too busy drowning in self-pity to notice she had a visitor. Aqualad was sitting motionless in the armchair, still as a statue. His hands were folded in his lap and his legs were crossed. All he needed was a goatee and glasses and he would've resembled a blonde, dark-skinned Freud. She covered up her surprise with some well-timed sarcasm.

"My next therapist is Fishboy? Right. I'll cut to the chase. I won't turn myself in and I'm not signing up for your team of 'sidekicks'," she said, complete with finger quotes. "End of discussion. Have a nice day."

"I suppose I no longer need to explain why you are here."

"Yeah, Flash Jr. kinda spilled the beans."

Aqualad tactfully decided against mentioning their little spat. "In any case, this is the situation. You are our responsibility, and what happens next depends on you."

"I get a choice?" Artemis pushed herself up from the bed, biting her lip against the pain that flared in her cramped muscles, and fell lazily into the empty armchair. "You good guys aren't too clear on the whole 'taking a hostage' concept, are you?"

He ignored the comment. "These are your options. Either we personally escort you to the custody of Belle Reve prison to carry out your sentence…or you can join our team. Fight against those you once fought alongside, and protect those you once scorned."

Artemis considered him for a long moment. The Atlantean's face was solid as stone etched with determination. This guy was serious as a grave, but she was still waiting for someone to say the punch line to this joke of a day.

"I don't suppose doing neither is an option?" she asked in a deadpan tone.

"It is not."

"And you really think me joining the good guys is a viable option?"

"I do."

There was really no getting through to these guys. She kicked a leg over one knee and leaned forward to speak. "Come on, what do you think is going to happen here? You send in your teammates one by one until I 'see the light' and reform my evil ways? I've got news for you. Not gonna happen."

"I expected as much. You have plenty of time to make a decision. But you might consider this a fortunate opportunity."

"Opportunity for what?" she scoffed.

"For a second chance," he pushed himself effortlessly from the chair and surveyed her with imploring green eyes.

She didn't even have the strength to give a sarcastic laugh at that. There was no humor left in her body, only cold anger. "You all think you're doing me some great service. Does it make you feel warm and fuzzy inside for offering the hand of salvation to a lost little soul like mine? Please." Her fingers tightened around the armrests. "I might as well have been born with a knife in my hands. My parents –"

"We are aware of your background."

"Then what makes you think I'd roll over on command for you people?"

Aqualad's eyes narrowed, finally displaying some semblance of emotion. "You are not the first nor the last to suffer from unfortunate parentage. It is how you allow those blood ties to define you that separates you from countless others."

For a moment, she couldn't retaliate. No quick-witted jape or insult came to mind. All she could think to say was, "I don't need your help, and I don't need saving."

"Very well," he replied evenly. "I will leave you to rest. But consider our offer. Who knows? You could turn your life around."

He left the room, leaving her alone in the stark room with her thoughts once again.

In that moment, Artemis mentally thanked her father and the Shadows for training her to withstand mind control. She didn't want to give those junior heroes the satisfaction of knowing how good a second chance really sounded.


	6. The Days Gone By

More than several days had passed since her imprisonment had begun. How long exactly she couldn't tell. Her nails had grown and her hair needed a trim. Artemis flexed her fingers. Even her calluses were starting to soften. Her hands itched for arrows to fletch or even just to hold. To give some small comfort that she was in control.

It felt cliché, but most of her time was spent working out. She refused to let her body grow stagnant with disuse. Morning, noon, and night. Push-ups, sit-ups, squats, lunges, anything she could think of. Anything to drive the thoughts away.

Other times she slept, or read, or pretended to sleep while planning out possible escape options. She ran over diversionary tactics, attack combinations, hypothetical combat situations. What to do when surrounded by multiple assailants, in this case, a certain group of smiley super teens. How best to trip up an obnoxious speedster, or outwit the constantly laughing Boy Wonder, or paralyze the vocal cords of an overly peppy Martian.

Her scenarios tended to end in either incarceration or gruesome death, by whose hands she was never certain.

But her days were not so monotonous. Three times a day, without fail, one of the sidekicks would bring her food and ask her questions. It was almost unnerving how friendly they were trying to be.

Some conversations were borderline pleasant. It was usually bits of world news, or questions about her interests, or, god help her, comments about the weather. Which was decently pointless since the cell had no windows, and she found herself wondering whether or not they were trying to trick her into longing for the outside world. Eventually it became clear that after multiple meetings a day, there just wasn't much more to talk about anymore.

She began to pick up on their schedules and noticed when one of them switched out for the other, most noticeably when Superboy fell out of the rotation. Though that may have been her fault for shamelessly hitting on him during their first conversation because she could tell it made him extremely uncomfortable. And it didn't hurt that he was hot either.

But the other members picked up the slack and supplied their own awkward chitchat. Miss Martian was too eager, Aqualad was too professional, and Kid Flash was understandably hostile, but none of them ever prodded her for information. They hardly asked anything. Nothing about the Shadows, or her background, or whether or not she had made a decision.

The one time Robin had tried to get personal didn't work out so well. She gave him props for not doing the same song and dance his teammates insisted upon, but, for the protégé of the world's greatest detective, subtlety didn't come naturally.

"How about a question for a question?" he asked one particular afternoon. "Like a game. You ask one, I ask one. And we can both choose to pass if we don't feel comfortable answering."

Artemis stared at the frayed tips of her hair. That day had been so incredibly boring that she had considered an attempted jailbreak just to liven things up. At least this alternative sounded less harmful to her wellbeing. "Sounds fair."

"All right," he rubbed his hands together like an excited game show host. "Who do you work directly under in the League of Shadows?"

Going all out in the first question, are we? "Pass."

Robin nodded, as though he had expected this answer. "Fine, what your first question?"

She looked around the room thoughtfully. "Is this room located in your team's main headquarters?"

"Pass, sorry," he gave an apologetic smile. "What are the Shadows planning to do with the diamond Cheshire stole?"

Artemis pursed her lips. Interesting that he didn't acknowledge she had helped to steal it. She felt a stab of annoyance at the reminder of that job. "Couldn't tell you even if I knew. Are any members of the Justice League around other than Red Tornado?"

"Pass. Do you live with your parents?"

"Super pass. Do these walls block electronic frequencies?"

"Pass."

"This game sucks."

"You're probably right," he sighed. "Maybe something easier. What's your mother like? Did you learn to be a villainess from her or your sister?"

The daggers shining in Artemis's eyes could've penetrated to the back of the boy's skull. "Don't even go there, Boy Wonder. She is  _not_ involved. You want to take me hostage and recruit me for the sidekick squad? Fine. But  _stay away_ from my mom. If any of you get her mixed up in this, I will hunt you down to the ends of the Earth. All of the Justice League combined can't protect you from that."

Needless to say, there was no further questioning after that. She spent the rest of the day with nausea roiling in her stomach, wondering if her mother knew what had become of her daughters.

But even considering the unparalleled failure of that meeting, it was nothing compared to how her conversations with Kid Flash fared. If two people glaring at each other and making belligerent small talk for a half hour counted as a conversation.

After escaping with a scratch in their first meeting, Kid Flash was justifiably unhappy about seeing her a second time. He came that evening to bring her dinner. She had refused to eat at first in case the speedster had planned some kind of trivial vengeance, but she snatched it back when he gladly helped himself to her meal.

For the first ten minutes there was nothing but the sound of chewing and the occasional glare. When the silence continued for too long, he eventually groaned and yelled at the mirror wall, "Okay, okay, I'll talk, geez!"

He must have been wearing a very small earpiece because she couldn't even hear the low murmur of his teammates' response.

Kid Flash slumped in the chair and popped open a bag of chips. "So…" he said without any hint of actual interest. "How's life? Any complaints?"

"Can't say I'm a huge fan of the company."

"Don't worry, Blondie, the feeling's mutual."

"It's Artemis," she growled. "Since we're becoming such good friends and all."

"Fine. Artemis."

She waited expectantly. "What, you're not going to return the favor? I told you my name, you should tell me yours."

"Nice try. I don't give my identity to people I don't trust."

She shrugged. "It was worth a shot. Not like you didn't know my name already. And I'm guessing you know who my dad is too?"

"You mean Sportsmaster? Yeah, we know," he grinned with triumph. "We also know Cheshire is your sister."

So Robin had just been fishing during that last session. They knew about her family, but they didn't know about her mother. At least that much was secret. She raised an amused eyebrow. Were these the standards for being a super brat now?

"Wow, you are bad at keeping a lid on important information," she said. "Didn't The Flash ever teach you not to let the enemy how much you know about them?"

Kid Flash froze mid-chew, realizing his mistake, then quickly recovered with forced nonchalance. "It's fine since you're probably going to end up either joining the team or rotting in jail. For the record, I'm betting good money on jail." He continued eating with gusto.

Artemis wondered vaguely how accurately her plastic knife could injure a person's windpipe to insure they would never speak again. Or breathe.

"As much as I hate to disappoint, jail's not an option." She wrinkled her nose. "Though I bet people in jail have better manners than you. Hell, I've seen farm animals eat with better manners."

The noisily chewing Kid Flash gave a sarcastic laugh and clutched the chips to his chest with a petulant expression. He then grabbed the side of his head and snarled to the air, "Oh shut up, it wasn't that funny!"

Artemis's eyes narrowed slightly. All possible communication devices were rendered disabled in this cell, as proven by a previous visit when Kid Flash expressed irritation being unable to text during a particularly boring session. Yet all members of the team seemed to be able to communicate somehow.

She decided to play it cool and pretended not to notice. "Sorry, did I wound your feelings as well as your face? The male ego is so delicate."

"No!" he snapped. "Just…ah, forget it!" Kid Flash collapsed in his seat. "Ugh, what am I even doing here?"

"Not that I'm an expert or anything, but shouldn't you be prying for information? Something about my employers, my weaknesses, stuff like that?"

He slumped down so low that his chin touched his chest. "Yeah, but it's not like you're actually gonna tell me. And what do I care? This whole thing is pointless."

What a baby. "Aren't you honest."

He shrugged, "I just don't know why Bats thinks you'd be a good asset. Besides, we already have an archer."

"You mean Red Arrow? I heard he kicked your peewee team to the curb and went solo."

Kid Flash frowned as though personally insulted. "He's still part of the team, even if his jobs take him in a different direction."

"Probably a smart career move."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

This was too sweet, she thought. Bullying a pouty Kid Flash wasn't her brightest idea, but it was certainly looking to be the highlight of her day. "Look, you and you ragtag team must have fun playing heroes, but don't fool yourselves into thinking you can stand up to the big guys."

"Like who exactly?"

"Oh, I don't know, the people I work for? You talked a big game the other day, and, yeah, I'll admit it, I lost my cool. But after sitting here for a while, gathering intelligence of my own, you know what I think?" He didn't respond, so she answered anyway. "I think you're just the Justice League's clean up crew. I think they give you little jobs like 'interrogating' me to make you feel all special and important. But at the end of the day, it's the guys in the tights and capes who make headlines. No one cares if the sidekicks want to make their own club team."

"Tough talk from the girl  _we_  captured," he retorted.

"Uh, you had help. If Cheshire hadn't ditched me, we both would've gotten away scot-free. And how sad is that? You had to get help from another villain just to capture lil ol' me." Somehow, using her own defeat as an insult to her captors made the memory less tortuous. "So here's some advice on the house. Get out while you can. How long will your 'team' last once the Shadows come looking for me?" Her voice became tinged with an extra color of malevolence. "This hideout of yours will burn to the ground. I'll make sure of it."

Unable to keep his anger in check, Kid Flash furiously snatched her tray from the table and stood to leave. "Yeah, we'll see about that," he spat before storming away.

"Just you wait, Flash Jr. I've got an arrow with your name on it."

"It's Kid Flash!" he yelled and, had it not been electronic, he would have slammed the door behind him.

* * *

Wally was still cursing under his breath when he rejoined Kaldur and Robin in the main control room. They both stared at him for a long moment before returning to the holographic screen.

"What?!" Wally demanded.

"Nothing," said Robin. "You two make a cute couple."

"Dude, don't even joke."

The atmosphere of the control room was grim, even more so than before Wally had left. Megan and Superboy stood off to the side with Sphere. The rolling robot kept bumping into Megan playfully, but she was too absorbed in the conversation to respond. Her soft brown eyes flicked worriedly back and forth between her teammates.

"Our prospects appear darker with each day," Kaldur said with unusual solemnity.

Wally crossed his arms and glared bitterly at the screen. "Great observation there, leader."

"Knock it off, KF," said Robin. "I mean, would it really be so horrible if she joined?"

Wally rolled his eyes. He was probably just saying that because he thought she was pretty, the pint-sized Casanova. "Uh, yes! And I think you're a bit young for her, man."

Robin frowned.

"Even if she  _wanted_  to join us, do you really think we could fight together as a team?" Wally continued. "Teammates are supposed to trust each other. What would  _she_ know about having someone's back?"

Kaldur sighed and rubbed his temples. "I must admit I also have my doubts. Artemis is hostile and dangerous. There is no telling what she will do. We may be in over our heads."

At hearing their leader's concern, the rest of the team fell silent, wrapped up in their individual concerns.

Wally thought he could already see the team's future if Artemis were to join. She would be nothing more than a chink in the team's flawless armor, a frayed knot in the team's spotless web, and a constant cause for concern. Not to mention team sparring sessions were likely to turn into death matches.

Megan tried to salvage the situation. "Superboy? You've been pretty quiet so far. What do you think?"

"At first I agreed with Wally, but…" Superboy shook his head, conflicted. "Because of what we know, I can't help but think we should give her a chance."

Wally threw his hands up. "Oh, come on!"

"It's just DNA. She can't help who her parents are," A frosty bitterness entered his voice. "We can't judge her based on that."

Wally scoffed. Superboy might have had daddy issues, but it's not like he had anything to be ashamed of. The closest thing he had to a father was Superman, for crying out loud! How could he relate with Artemis and her evil dad?

Still, the young clone's eyes had clouded over with indiscernible emotion. Megan took his hand in hers and gave it a little squeeze for support.

Wally turned away. The reminder that the two were dating struck him hard in the gut. He often pretended either not to notice or like it was of no consequence, but his heart still gave a little twinge whenever they stared at each other like that. Like breaking eye contact would spell the destruction of the world. Like they were slowly spinning in an empty room while an orchestra swelled behind them.

It must be nice to have someone like that, he thought. But he was young, they were all young, and there was still so much that life had in store and a more pressing matter at hand.

"Look, bottom line, we don't need her," he said. "The five of us already make the a perfect team! And I think we can all agree if we needed archer, there's already a candidate."

Aqualad shook his head. "Roy made his choice. We cannot place our hopes in him rejoining the team. It is…for the best."

Wally suddenly felt ashamed for taking out his frustrations on Kaldur. He had forgotten that Kaldur and Roy had been close friends before going separate ways.

"Right," he rubbed the back of his neck. "So what now? Take a vote?"

"We can't vote on something like this!" Megan exclaimed. "Artemis is just misguided. If we keep up the sessions, I'm sure she'll come around!"

"Well, I'm with KF on this," said Robin. Wally repressed the urge to high five him. "We could always use more members, but I think I'd prefer a recruit who didn't want to kill us."

"That's enough. There is no need to choose sides," Kaldur said firmly, putting the matter to rest before it turned south. "Artemis is our responsibility until a final decision is reached. For now we operate as usual. She must feel protected within our walls."

"I doubt she even cares," said Wally. "She still thinks the Shadows are coming to save her."

The recollection of Artemis's words hit the team particularly hard. They shared a quick glance of confused realization before directing their eyes back to the screen.

Megan bit her lip. "I know the Cave is hidden, but wouldn't they have come looking by now?"

Kaldur frowned, thinking hard. "Do we have any word on the Shadows' movements?" he asked, nearly snapping in his haste.

Robin took a moment to access the files on his wrist computer. "Nope, nothing out of the ordinary. It's like they haven't even noticed she's gone. But with Cheshire and Sportsmaster…there's no way they don't know."

"It appears they do not intend to look," Kaldur glanced at the security camera feed. "And I think she is also aware of this."

Even through the distant grainy image, Wally could see Artemis sitting on her bed. A closer look revealed a hard-set jaw and clenched fists gripping the sides of her cot.

For a moment, the wrinkle between his eyebrows softened. What must it be like, he wondered. To be captured by people you despise and know that no one, not even your family, is looking for you.


	7. The Point of No Return

Artemis was at the tail end of a long set of crunches when the familiar electric whirring of her cell door shattered her concentration. Not that it mattered; she had already lost count somewhere around two hundred.

"I've been meaning to say this, but working out while incarcerated?" said the equally familiar and grating voice of her least favorite speedster. "That's so cliché."

"Not all of us have fancy superpowers to do our dirty work for us." Artemis had always taken great pride in her physical prowess. There was nothing quite as satisfying as knocking some cocky little hero with flashy powers flat on his backside with a good old-fashioned haymaker.

She straightened up off the floor and wiped her sweaty palms on a towel. Kid Flash's face reddened slightly when he realized she was only wearing shorts and a sports bra, now heavily soaked with sweat.

"Eyes up here, Kid Pervert," she said when he kept gaping.

"I wasn't – what're you – wait, where did she get work out gear from?" he sputtered. His cheeks now matched the color of his hair.

"My guess would be Miss Martian," said Aqualad, who followed close behind along with a grim-looking Superboy.

It was true. The doting Martian had dropped by with a gym bag stuffed with a set of exercise clothes, water bottle, and towel after noticing Artemis's dedication to staying fit on the monitors. Another ploy to get on her good side, but Artemis couldn't help but feel the slightest bit appreciative. Not that Miss Martian would ever be aware of this fact.

"She looks a bit too at home, that's all I'm saying."

Aqualad promptly ignored him. "I hope we are not interrupting?"

"Not at all, I was pretty much done." She had grown almost fond of Aqualad's polite demeanor. "But thanks for the input, Flash Boy."

"It's Kid Flash," said Kid Flash.

"Whatever you say," Artemis cocked her hip and turned her attention to Superboy, who flinched under her openly flirtatious gaze. "Long time no see, Super Stuff. What's the deal? I've been so lonely since that you stopped visiting me."

Kid Flash looked outraged. "Keep it in your pants, woman."

Artemis laughed. It had been so long since she'd seen someone squirm like that. Boys were so easy.

* * *

_Men,_  Cheshire thought angrily as she stomped up the hallway. Why she had to deal with so many of these glorified children who dared to call themselves assassins was beyond her.

For an organization that prided itself on secrets, it had been easy to hear Sportsmaster's plans. A few well-placed knives around Hook and Black Spider's sensitive areas had told her enough. They were still probably stuck to the wall like a couple of circus volunteers on a rotating wheel.

But of all the reactions she had predicted from her father, placing a hit on Artemis wasn't one of them. Why did events never go according to plan?

She found Lawrence standing in a corner of a windowless room, his face illuminated by the bluish glow of wall sized computer screens. The only other light came from a pair of low hanging chandeliers. Her shadow stretched across the rich Persian rugs and tapered along the stones strewn with ivy on the walls. The Shadows always did have a flair for ostentatious furnishings.

Her father was out of place among the wine colored drapery and glowing orange torches. He wasn't so much about finesse as he was crushing skulls in his fists like grapes. From the looks of things he had just wrapped up a powwow with the Shadow's partners. Right on schedule.

Jade pounded on the door and stormed into the room in an unnatural huff. "What the hell do you think you're doing, Sportsmaster!"

Lawrence remained perfectly still, not even turning to look at her. "Welcome back," he said conversationally.

_That's how you want to play it? Fine._  "I'm gone a week. One week in the dark, and I have to hear from some second-rate thug that there's a hit out on Artemis?"

"That's right."

"And you remember she's being held captive by the Justice League?"

"Oh, I am perfectly aware of your sister's mistakes."

Jade invented several scathing names to call him that would've made her mom scrub out her mouth with soap accompanied by a furious lecture in shrill Vietnamese.

But she was a professional. She swallowed the anger and stuck to logic. "We couldn't even find their fortress, let alone break into it. And now every moron on the street with a computer and a gun thinks they can hunt her down. A few weeks ago, no one even knew her name!"

* * *

"Artemis," said Aqualad started. He was unnaturally hesitant, weighing each word in his head before speaking. A true diplomat, this one. "Your cooperation in this ordeal would be greatly appreciated."

"And this ordeal would be…?"

"As I am sure you are aware, we have been refraining from asking too many personal questions in respect to your private life," Aqualad explained. "And, were these not special circumstances we would not be inquiring at all, but…"

"We're looking for Cheshire," Kid Flash interrupted without a trace of subtlety. Aqualad let out the smallest of groans. Superboy looked ready to throw him out a window.

_Cheshire._

The name burned a curling hole in her stomach. How long had it been since she had even thought about that night? About her sister's laughing eyes and her hopeless last stand backed by a wall of flames.

"Why?" The single word was laced with as much malice as she could muster.

"She appears to have gone…off-grid," said Aqualad.

"So? She's an assassin with the League of  _Shadows_. If you could find her, she wouldn't be doing her job right."

"True, however," Aqualad exchanged a look with his teammates, unsure how to best phrase his excuses. "It is important that we locate your sister, and in this respect we are having some…difficulties."

"Uh-huh," she said with undisguised suspicion.

Here Kid Flash jumped in. "Obviously, we feel more comfortable when we can keep track of psycho feline-themed assassins that could possibly want revenge on us for…y'know…" He gestured towards her general state of being in the room.

Artemis surveyed the trio before her with calculating eyes. "Sorry, boys. I'm going to need a little more detail if you want my help. This might surprise you, but Cheshire isn't exactly my favorite person right now. Ever since, y'know…" She mimicked Kid Flash's previous gesture at the room.

The boys exchanged a long look that seemed to communicate their thoughts to each other. She wasn't about to hand out free information and they knew it.

Finally, Aqualad cleared his throat. "Very well," he said. "I understand that trust must be given in order to be earned."

Now we're getting somewhere. "Spit it out, then. What's so secret and sensitive that you need  _my_ help?"

"We're looking for Cheshire for the League," Superboy chimed in, somewhat pathetically as though it was the only contribution he could make.

Artemis rolled her eyes. Good thing he was pretty. "So is everyone she's ever met. Be specific."

"We were hoping you might know any of her hideouts," said the Atlantean. "Places she might seek refuge when under duress."

"As far as I know, Cheshire might as well be a shadow herself. She shows up when there's work to be done and leaves without a trace," she said with a casual flip of her hand. "If my sister wanted to be found, she'd come to you, that's how she is."

To Aqualad's credit, if he was disappointed he did not show it easily. Kid Flash, on the other hand, bit his lip and looked worriedly back and forth between his teammates as though watching a heated tennis match.

"Of course, if I had more details on this super secret operation, maybe I could be of more assistance."

Aqualad considered her for a moment, and then sighed. "You must understand," he said. "These are unique circumstances, and it is imperative that we do not reveal too much. It is not that we do not trust you…"

"I don't," Kid Flash muttered in the background.

"But, as I said, it's a very delicate matter, one which the League has…"

Artemis waved a hand impatiently to cut him off. All of this dancing around the truth was beginning to feel infuriatingly like her time with the Shadows. No job specifics, just do what we say and you might just live to get another job thrown at you. For some reason she had thought the super sidekicks would be different.

A sour taste filled her mouth, one that leaked into her words. "No, I get it. It's fine. Really. Just get on with it."

Aqualad's eyebrows knitted together. "We received word that she would make an appearance at a specific location and she failed to do so."

"Uh, expecting her to show up on time – or at all – was your first mistake."

"However, this meeting was crucial for her and the other involved party. One we can guarantee she would not have missed for any reason unless things went south."

Artemis gripped either end of the towel slung about her neck, digging her fingernails into the damp fabric. "This other party wouldn't happen to be any of you, would it?"

"No way," Superboy said quickly.

"Let us just say it is someone whose current whereabouts are also a concern for us at the moment."

"Uh-huh." Something about this whole deal stunk to high heaven. There was no way Cheshire would cooperate with the Justice League or their super sidekicks so why would they want to find her?

* * *

"You won't find her. Not in time," Jade insisted. "Artemis has never been a hostage before. Once she hears you've given up on her, how fast until she gives up the organization? What if she reveals our location? Our partners? The Light won't stand for this."

"You and I both know she was trained better than that. Artemis won't reveal anything. Not even up until her final breath."

The wheels and cogs in Jade's head screeched to a halt. She sucked in a sharp breath.

Of course. She should have known. Lawrence never planned to take any chances with Artemis. Whether she was a POW or not, the plan had always been to eliminate her.

Weeks ago Jade had overheard him confronting Artemis about that job where she had saved a group of civilians. She should have figured from that moment what Lawrence had in store. For him, a pawn has no use when it starts thinking for itself.

"So that's your game," she replied dryly.

"I've said it before and I'll say it again. I have no use for loose ends."

Her options were running low. Jade wanted desperately to slip on her favorite mask; the one of a coldblooded killer. Something its firm edges hugging the sides of her face always gave her confidence. But she had to face her father as Jade Nguyen, not the assassin Cheshire.

This was her last hand.

Her voice dripped with lazy carelessness. "In any case, it sounds like you're offering a nice fat reward. Have you already dispatched a team, or is it too late to raise my hand?" She gave him an oily smile, flashing her teeth like a hungry predator.

Lawrence studied her for a brief moment. She hated how much he loomed over her, both in height and gait. It made her want to break him down to her size.

"I'm surprised, Jade. You'd take a job to kill your own sister?"

Says the jackass who put the hit out on his own daughter in the first place.

Jade leaned against a scarlet chintz armchair in the middle of the room and casually studied her nail beds. "What can I say? Love comes in all shapes and sizes. Artemis screwed up. She put the Shadows at risk. And family cleans up each other's mistakes."

Lawrence suddenly turned his head to look sideways at her. His illuminated profile flickered menacingly in the dim lighting. She swallowed thickly. Well, that wasn't foreboding at all.

"You know, little girl?" he said. "I couldn't agree more."

* * *

Wally didn't always agree with Kaldur's plans, but he always followed the chain of command because, seriously, who else was going to give the orders? The others were all seasoned fighters with more than enough experience to handle themselves in the field, but they weren't leaders. Wally was especially proud of his instincts. Being a speedster meant needing to make snap decisions  _fast._

But this plan? Even if he had a year to think it over, he would still disagree. Putting their faith in Cheshire was one thing, but counting on Artemis to give a straight answer? He wouldn't trust her to tell him honestly what the color of the sky is.

Still…their relationship  _had_  been improving recently.

Of course their version of improvement meant fewer death threats and less of him storming from the room in a huff. At one point he swore she had smirked in a mildly threatening way instead of her usual "I will rip your spleen out through your throat and crush your bones to make my bread" way.

It was getting harder to think of her as a despicable villain when all this crap kept happening to her.

Artemis was leaning against the metal bed frame, one hand on her hip and the other gripping a towel around her shoulders. She listened to Kaldur with an angry glint in her eye.

Wally had long since tuned out the conversation, but it seemed like Kaldur was reaching the end of his explanation. Wordlessly, Artemis pushed herself off the metal railing and strode over to her usual armchair.

She had a peculiar way of moving across a room that captivated the eye. Full of confidence, as though she knew all eyes were on her and wanted to give them a show. The atmosphere swirled around her like the eye of a storm, and Wally could feel himself gravitating towards her with each swaying motion of her hips.

Then she fell in the chair with a muffled  _whump_ and he snapped back to reality. Thankfully no one had noticed his attention straying where he stood in the back corner. The sheer width of Superboy's shoulders was enough to partially shield him from view.

" – and did she not mention anything about her intentions the night of the museum job the two of you worked together?" Kaldur was saying.

"We were  _not_ working together," she snapped. "Cheshire had her own agenda that night, but, as you can plainly see, I wasn't included in her plans. So I don't think you have to worry about Cheshire showing up on your doorstep. Maybe a fruit basket or a thank you card. Either way, I think you'll be fine."

Then Kaldur started talking again so Wally spaced out for a bit. He noticed Artemis's chest heaving slightly at the mention of Cheshire's name. He tried not to gape, but the sports bra wasn't leaving much to the imagination.

He decided to focus on her eyes. That's where his mom and Aunt Iris had always told him to look when talking to girls.

There was a storm brewing in the steel gray whirlpools of her eyes. The intensity was usually enough to bowl him over, but not now. The knives her glares threw now were dulled and worn from use. Maybe she was just running out of reasons to be angry.

The sound of her voice startled him back to reality again. "Look, if you can't find Cheshire it's because she doesn't want to be found," Artemis said, clearly tired with the conversation. "She's good at running away. Trust me. You're talking to the girl she walked out on. Twice."

Now he could see her eyes were tinged with fire; a cloudy, throbbing flame that resonated…something. He couldn't put his finger on the emotion in her eyes. It wasn't entirely anger, though that certainly was a big part. It looked more like pain.

She angrily rubbed one of her eyes as though trying to wipe off her feelings. Wally could see deep purple shadows under her eyes, giving her a ghostly pallor in the bright florescent lighting.

The bags were so pronounced, he couldn't believe he hadn't noticed before. Had she been sleeping properly? Red Tornado watched the monitors at night, but had never reported anything usual about her sleep.

"Are you sleeping all right?"

Kaldur and Superboy both spun around. Artemis's eyebrows furrowed so deeply they nearly connected in the middle. All of them were looking at him like he had three heads. And it was then that Wally realized he had just voiced his thoughts.

_Nicely done, West. Speak then think. Classic._

"I was just…your eyes are kind of…" he gestured awkwardly at his own face. "You've just got really dark circles is all."

Artemis scrutinized him carefully. "Um…as disturbing as your concern is, I'm sleeping fine."

Damn it, this was humiliating. He searched for a way out. Was there a cover that didn't make him sound like either a sap or a total douche?

"I wouldn't call it concern. I was just wondering if you were losing sleep over the fact that the Shadows seem to be coming for you and your family, since it looks like Cheshire's lost in the wind and you could be next."

_Nailed it._

The underlying hostility between them that had been dissipating so smoothly now burst forward like water from a thinly structured dam. Artemis crossed her arms over her chest and let out a long exhale. Damn, her chest was really distracting.

"The Shadows don't scare me and neither do you, Kid Psycho."

Having handled that situation, Wally felt this was a good time to storm out. Again. He was so frustrated with himself he had forgotten to correct her on his name.

"He means well," said Kaldur, his deep voice drifting through the door.

"Deep,  _deep_ down," Superboy deadpanned.

"Oh, screw you guys," Wally muttered. He stomped all the way back to the control room.

Robin was seated at the computer, still running the same global tracking program he had been tinkering with since the night before. Wally slumped into the chair beside him.

"Where's Miss M at?" He hoped Megan hadn't seen him make a complete idiot of himself. Again.

"Out with the bioship," Robin replied. "She thought it'd be best to distance herself. Her last meeting with Artemis didn't go so well."

"Good thing I'm not the only one."

"Yeah, but she's actually  _trying_  to befriend Artemis," Robin reminded him. "Everyone is."

"What's your point?" he asked, even though it was obvious.

"You should make more of an effort to get along. Say something nice every once in a while, or give a little sign of trust."

"Like what?"

"I don't know, whatever doesn't end with you getting your ass handed to you," Robin said, a bit waspishly. Wally didn't rise to his tone. The Boy Wonder had been working nonstop all night and was entitled to some attitude.

Wally sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Right. I'll think of something. Be nice, huh? That feels impossible right now."

"Really? 'Cause it sounded like you already got a head start on it." Robin spun around in his chair. "Did you really just ask if she was having sleeping problems?" His eyebrow was arched so high it peeked out above his domino mask.

Wally groaned. Of course he had been watching the video feed from here. "Maybe."

His best friend smirked. "Smooth."

* * *

Smooth move there, Cheshire. Walk right into Daddy's trap. Literally.

In terms of surprise attacks, this is one Jade would kick herself over for years to come. His men had been lying in wait the whole time; wrapped in the shadowy corners of the room thanks to the lack of light. How had she not noticed?

But it was too late to dwell on the past. Especially since her future was looking especially grim.

A group of black clad figures surrounded her on all sides; a few holstered machine guns on their shoulders, others armed with escrima sticks or throwing knives. They covered the door, walls, air vents, and had there been windows they would've been blocking those too.

Jade turned on the spot quickly, searching for a weakened area, maybe a man with a limp or a gun she could easily reach. But there was nothing. Not even a table to dive under.

Lawrence stood calmly in the center of it all, in the eye of the storm. The ring of shadows warriors encircling them remained motionless, waiting for his command.

Strange. It wasn't like him to hesitate.

He began drifting away from the dim glowing light of his computer screens. For every step he advanced, Jade had to steel herself from moving back in response.

"Jade, Jade, Jade," he shook his head sadly like she was ten years old again and had just received a failing grade in class. "Did you really think I wouldn't find out? The botched jobs, hacking into the mainframe, the moonlit meetings with the arrow brat? When will you learn there is nothing that goes on in here without my knowledge?"

Lovely. He wanted to give a sermon before leaving his daughter to the mercy of a small arm.

"You always did have a soft spot for Artemis," he continued. "There's more of your mother in you than I thought. You two were always begging me to keep Artemis out of the spotlight. Letting her skills rust in the dark. She could've been something real special. A lethal killing force strong enough to rival any of those super powered brats or their mentors." A muscle started to jump visibly in his square jawline. "But now she's worthless. It's your fault she got soft, you and your damn mother! If Paula hadn't –"

"Don't you  _dare_ ," Jade seethed. Her fingers flinched reflexively above the kunai belted at her waist. "I should kill you just for saying her name."

Lawrence just laughed. "Careful, little girl. Your emotions are showing."

He was right. Jade unclenched her fists and felt the skin prickle where her nails had dug little trenches.

He started pacing closer. "I knew one day something like this would happen, but I have to admit I didn't expect such a risky plan, even from you, Jade. I raised you. I gave you those skills. I raised you to be great, and I expected you to use them for better purposes."

"I'm touched," she snarled.

* * *

"Really, I am," Artemis twirled a strand of hair around her finger. "It's downright adorable what you think you're doing for me and all, but I'm not worried about Cheshire. She doesn't give a shit about me, and I don't owe her anything. The most I could thank her for is helping to grow as a person who doesn't need to depend on anyone."

* * *

"Just think about the person she could've been! Artemis's name would be known and feared throughout the city. She was going to be my masterpiece. My greatest accomplishment." His fists clenched into big meaty wrecking balls.

Jade kept one hand firmly on her waist; the other was clenched in a fist. Every word spewing from this man's mouth seemed to infuriate her more and more. She entertained a brief fantasy of rushing him with her knives even if it meant getting riddled with holes from every direction.

"You think I gave you and Artemis a rough childhood, boo-freaking-hoo. At least I raised you to take care of yourselves. Now look where you are!" He held out an open palm. The men around her all tensed in unison. They were ready to jump. "Don't worry, little girl," he said solemnly. "Your accomplishments in this life will be remembered."

Jade laughed.

The boom of her voice echoed around the silent room. A few of her father's henchmen exchanged confused looks. Lawrence's eyebrow raised a fraction of an inch.

It was all too funny. She had let his preaching continue mostly out of curiosity, but his speeches were even dumber than she'd thought.

Time to bring an end to father-daughter fun time.

Jade spun to face her father with a hand on her hip. "Aww, don't say that, Dad. I'm proud of all the terrible things you taught me. And you're right. I  _did_ learn a lot. For instance, when you enter a fight you know you can't win…" She withdrew a hand from the inside of her belt. A thin black device came into view. "Always have a way out."

A wide circular pattern of red lights flickered to life on the back wall. She could see her father's face contort in sudden realization before he hit the deck, and not a second too soon.

The blast shook the very foundations of their stronghold. Lamps swung violently on their chain links and the room was covered in a thin layer of disintegrated rock. The computer system had been blown to pieces. The waves of dark clothed soldiers had either been caught in the blast, their sprawled limbs trapped by chunks of debris, or were just starting to straighten up and charge at her. But they couldn't find her through the clouds of smoke and dust.

Jade kneeled in the jagged hole her bombs had made in the wall. Fresh night air welcomed her with beckoning black arms.

_Home free,_  she thought. Until a thick, meaty hand shot forward and seized her ankle.

Lawrence. Of course a mere explosion hadn't affected him.

For a moment she was filled with pure terror. A million thoughts raced through her head. All the worst-case scenarios and fears she had had since childhood, looking up at that mountain of a man.

Jade had always chalked up his leniency towards her to be because he still had some regard for family and because she was useful. But she hadn't truly considered what would happen when she could no longer bargain with her skills. There was a dark murderous look in his eyes. A look that said, quite clearly, he didn't care what happened to her, and, worse, he would make it happen.

All these thoughts occurred with the space of a second and, in a reflex born from pure panic, she kicked at him.

The momentum tipped her off balance and suddenly her eyes were filled with the sight of a velvety, star packed night sky. The winds she had run through so many times enveloped her in a stomach-curling embrace, and she fell, tumbling along the craggy rocks of Infinity Island.

* * *

"It's got to be Infinity Island," Superboy said stubbornly.

"Even if the Shadows  _are_ holding her, we don't have the proof and we definitely can't launch a full-scale infiltration of their headquarters," argued Robin.

Wally was sick of this circling conversation, but he sure as hell wasn't going to sit by without adding his two cents. "Well, what if Artemis is right? What if she doesn't want to be found?"

Robin cocked an eyebrow. "Since when do you agree with Artemis?"

"I don't!" he retorted quickly. "I – I'm just saying it's a lot more likely she double crossed us! And, at this rate, should we really be surprised?"

Kaldur shook his head gravely. "This was her plan. I do not believe she has reason to betray us."

By this point M'gann had returned with the bioship. "I checked out every rendezvous point we've ever made with her," she said. "Cheshire's nowhere to be found and we're running out of time." Her doleful eyes slid to the ground.

"What do you mean?" Superboy asked with the special touch of concern he reserved for the Martian.

"I just heard from Uncle J'onn," she said. Her eyes were almost brimming with tears. "The League…they're getting impatient. And with Cheshire gone…they want to move up the deadline."

Wally felt like his heart had thrown itself against his ribcage with a painful thud. His teammate's faces clouded over with similar expressions of alarm.

Kaldur, cool as ever under pressure, took command. "We need to get in contact with Roy." He turned to Robin. "Do we know his location?"

"Working on it," Rob jumped back on his computer and began typing furiously, his gloved fingers flying over the holographic keyboard.

"When you reach him, tell him something has gone wrong on Cheshire's end. If he does not already know."

The team started dissipating from the room, minus Robin clacking away. Wally watched his friend work for a moment before noticing his hands. He lifted one hand, holding it parallel before his eyes. It trembled violently, shivers traveling up through the wrists to the tips of his microscopic nails.

_Calm down,_  he thought.  _There's no reason to be nervous. So the League pushed up our timeline. Makes no difference. We knew this was going to happen. No point in getting worked up over the inevitable._

So why did he feel like his world had just flipped upside down?

* * *

Jade squinted upside down at the sky.

As it turns out, falling five storied jungle fortress with only trees and cliff walls to break your fall is a lot less fun than it sounds. The grappling hook she meant to use lay uselessly on the ground like a curled up snake. The traitor.

She did a quick catalogue of injuries. The five-inch gash on her forearm would take longest to heal, either that or the contusions on her back from smacking a thick tree branch on her way down. She would've been surprised it the fall hadn't knocked out two of her vertebrae.

The foot she had used to kick at Sportsmaster still had his angry red handprint seared on her skin. There was something ironic about how she had kicked him out of instinctual panic. She had made a career from being a carefully controlled killer. Yet primal fear and uncertainty had saved her.

"Hey."

Jade blinked. A fuzzy outline with a shock of red hair and a bad attitude was standing above her.

"What happened to meeting on the shore?" Red Arrow frowned.

She wet her lips and whispered, "Ch-change of…plans." It was hard to be snarky when you had tree bark embedded in your back.

The former sidekick's scowl slipped off his face after fully taking in how much damage she had just received. But he knew her well enough to not damage her pride by coddling her. He helped her to her feet and kept one firm arm hoisting her off the ground until she could get her bearings back. They both knew she was hurt bad, but it would get worse if they didn't get off the island soon.

"So," he said, adjusting his arm around her shoulder. "Mission unsuccessful, I take it?"

"Could've gone better."

"You mean all your idiotic escape attempts don't end with you falling off cliffs? Frankly, I'm shocked."

She let out a tiny laugh and immediately regretted it when a lightning strike of pain shot through her chest. He noticed and kept his tone businesslike from then on.

They reached the dark shore where a boat was covered in a not very subtle camouflage tarp.

Red Arrow glanced anxiously around at the bushes. "Last time I was here, people were shooting at me."

"I disabled the island's defense systems and surveillance cameras. Slowed down the response time," she said. "Won't last much longer. Keep moving."

He let her go to whip off the tarp of the boat. It was, in a word, pathetic.

"What. The hell. Is this?" she said in a combination of exhaustion and utter disbelief.

"You wanted a boat, I got a boat. Though now I'm wondering why we couldn't have taken that perfectly functioning helicopter you sent far, far away," he said, following the tiny shadow of a helicopter trekking sluggishly through the distant night sky with a dejected expression.

She gave him a wily grin. "Because by the time Sportsmaster and the others figure out how to unscramble the hangar lock codes and find a jeep with tires I haven't slashed, the bogey chopper will keep them busy and we'll be long gone."

She hurried to help him push the boat into the water, but he insisted on doing it himself, taking in her various injuries. She punched him in the shoulder and helped anyway. It took a few tries to start the engine, but soon they were speeding off through the dark waters just as the island's security alarms began blaring.

Jade laid back in the back seat. A few quips came to mind about the two of them romantically riding off into the twilight, but she repressed them. For once she was too exhausted to flirt, even for the purposes of rattling him. Red Arrow had really saved her ass back there. Allowing him to keep his dignity was gratitude enough, she decided.

After a few minutes of silent sailing, he asked loudly over the sputtering engine, "You messed with their systems even though you were hoping he wouldn't turn on you. What if your plan had worked?"

Jade took a hesitant breath and then gave a bitter laugh, giving up any pretense of confidence. "Honestly, Red? There was no chance in hell I was getting out of there without a bruise. Or several. I didn't go in expecting it to work at all. But I guess, on the off chance he had played dumb and let me walk away, I could've reset the system easily."

"And the slashed tires?"

She shrugged. "Probably would've blamed it on you."

"Nice. Really nice, Cheshire."

"Oh hush, it all worked out in the end."

Her eyelids began to flutter like sandbags were tied on the tips. The injuries were starting to catch up with her now that the adrenaline was wearing off. She estimated several minutes until she lost consciousness entirely. Perfect.

"I'll just take a quick cat nap," she said with a lazy yawn for added effect.

Roy nodded, his mouth drawn in a tight line. She could tell he understood the truth behind her words. He always did. That probably should have irritated her more, but colored circles were starting to drift in and out of her vision.

"Wake me when we arrive," she said, slightly slurred. "Or when some driftwood pokes a hole in this toy boat and we drown."

The last thing she heard before drifting to sleep was his angry grumbling.

"Everyone has a problem with the boat. Never mind that I keep coming back to this goddamn island to save them, oh no, let's mock the rental."


	8. The Sunlight

Artemis was wearing a new sweatshirt.

Earlier she had asked if there was a thermostat because the room was getting a bit chilly. This seemed to surprise the team. Before she never would've made a single comment about the room, let alone a legitimate complaint, and, sure enough, she woke up the next morning to find it folded at the foot of her bed.

After suppressing some minor rage at the thought that one of the sidekicks had snuck into her room while she was sleeping, she allowed herself the smallest smile of gratitude. It was olive green with an embroidered little neon green arrow where the breast pocket should've been and two drawstrings she liked to curl around her fingers.

None of them commented on the sweatshirt when she wore it the next day, but she caught Miss Martian glancing at it with a poorly concealed grin on her face. To Artemis, it was just a piece of clothing, but to them it was a "sign of trust."

Speaking of which…

Artemis paused in the middle of her meal to glance over at her current "interrogator." Kid Flash was sitting sideways across his chair, legs kicked over the armrest with one hand in a ziploc bag of cookies and the other balancing a small paperback book between long fingers. Every once in a while he would absentmindedly brush the cookie crumbs off on his jeans in order to turn the page.

His wearing jeans to their interview sessions had been a recent development. While his teammates made a point to always wear their hero uniforms in front of her – if indeed they ever wore anything else – Kid Flash had recently made a habit of wearing civilian clothes. The rest of today's ensemble was a wrinkled blue button-down over a long-sleeved white shirt and a pair of red goggles to conceal his eyes. Not that it did much. Even through the tinted glass, she could tell his eyes were a sharp emerald green. She could see every follicle of his flaming red hair and a smattering of freckles across his nose.

The others had told her it was a sign of his trust, but Artemis had seen enough of him these days to bet it was a sign of laziness.

Knowing Kid Flash's true identity, or even any of the other's, was starting to hold less appeal. Locked in her cell with no communication to the outside, she didn't know what benefit the information would give her.

Not that it mattered. Since he was refusing to talk to her at the moment.

Kid Flash's attention was still riveted to his homework. For reasons she couldn't explain without the impulse to put her head through a wall, she felt miffed that he was ignoring her. As much as she had been trying to dislike the team and their fervent friendliness, she really had nothing better to do.

It was horrifying to admit, but their daily conversations were the only bright point to her otherwise endless days of incarceration. She preferred to attribute it to Stockholm syndrome, or that Florence Nightingale thing, or maybe a nice brain tumor. Any sort of medical explanation was better than the truth.

"Catch."

Artemis was startled back to the present as the bag of cookies landed neatly in her hands. She looked at him quizzically.

"Courtesy of Miss Martian," he explained. "She's developing a knack for human cooking."

Artemis inspected the cookie. The bottom was singed and the chocolate chips were cooked beyond melting, but it appeared edible. She took a bite. It was decent; definitely not the best she'd ever had, but the fact that they had shared them with her… An unnatural warmth spread through her stomach and glowed in her cheeks.

"Tumor. Definitely a tumor," she muttered under her breath, but helped herself to another.

Kid Flash was devouring his like a man starving in the desert. "Ugh, I'm in heaven," he said while polishing off what must have been his eighth cookie by Artemis's counting. He leaned back in his chair with his eyes closed and a blissful smile on his face. "That girl is an angel."

The cookie suddenly turned to cardboard in her mouth and a boiling heat rose in her chest. She tossed the bag so it landed directly on his stomach, causing him to cough and sputter his last swallow of cookie.

"Rather than planning your wedding to the Martian, aren't you supposed to be – I don't know – interrogating me or something?"

"Yeah, but I'm more worried about my English test tomorrow," he said, frowning slightly and wiping off bits of expelled cookie. "If I don't do well, my teacher's going to lecture me. Then Batman will. Then my  _mom_ will." He shivered. "I can't decide who I'm more terrified of."

"Superheroes go to high school?"

"It sucks, I know. But it's not like our classmates know our secret identities, and we can leave whenever we want if there's an emergency."

Without thinking, she heard herself say, "Huh. That doesn't sound so bad."

Suddenly she had to stop herself from slapping a hand over her mouth. Those wistful words weren't supposed come out, and there was no taking them back.

She glanced up. He had stopped eating, for one thing. For the first time since she had been taken hostage, Kid Flash was looking her directly in the eye, unwavering, as though held in place by an invisible string, with something other than hatred in his eyes.

It was pity. Again. He had been making that face a lot lately. Like a kid watching his puppy being euthanized. And she did  _not_  appreciate it.

"What?" she snapped.

He blinked and the look disappeared. To her surprise, he merely dug his hand back into the baggie and shrugged, "Nothing. School's okay."

The two fell silent. No sarcasm, no triumph, no sign of antagonism from either party. But the wall of conversation had been breached so Kid Flash took a stab at the topic again.

"So…" he shifted in his chair to an upright position. "Did you ever go to school or did the Shadows raise you?"

Artemis started picking at the skin around her nails. "Come on, Kid Smarty-Pants. Don't pretend you didn't pull up my old permanent record the moment you found out my real name."

"Just checking. And it's still Kid Flash." He leaned back and recited, "Straight A student all throughout middle school with a recommendation to Gotham Academy. But you dropped out two years ago. Is that when you joined the League of Shadows?"

"No comment," she replied, though less forcefully than normal.

Wally shrugged, "Well, I gave it a shot." And he promptly continued reading with a pained expression on his face.

He was right, of course. Six years ago, Paula Crock had been wheeled off to jail and Lawrence decided to spearhead Jade and Artemis's education. Except it was his opinion that learning to kill a man before he could scream or fight your way from a burning building surrounded by ninjas was more important than math or biology. Despite this, Artemis used to sneak in her textbooks and studied at early hours of the morning when even birds were too tired to chirp in her determination not to fall behind.

School hadn't been anything special. She stayed so close to the sidelines that teachers often had difficulty remembering her name. The only remarkable thing about her was an impressive grade record and list of forged extracurriculars to distract from her real activities. She used to watch her classmates run around below, all grouped together like packs of hyenas, laughing hysterically at everything, never knowing that to smile was a weakness. From her usual perch on the school's rooftop, she waited as their lives passed by below, smaller than ants and just as insignificant.

These kids knew hardship, it was true, but they had never known darkness.

In the middle of eighth grade, Artemis received a letter commending her for academic excellent and a glowing recommendation to the prestigious Gotham Academy, where only the richest of the rich attended. She had been placed in the running for the Wayne Foundation Scholarship, which was awarded to one outstanding student every year. But she would never know if they had chosen her.

Lawrence had found the letter first and, after reading it to her in a scathing tone, shredded the praise to pieces before her eyes. The next day, she found her backpack and school books in the trash. That very night she had been brought before the League of Shadows to officially begin training as one of them. She shed her civilian identity and donned a mask of shadows. Artemis Crock was a past life, a repressed memory.

Artemis frowned slightly and stopped picking at her nails. Why did thinking about her past self make her feel so melancholic?

The old Artemis was a child, spineless and idealistic. A little girl surrounded by nightmares and naïve enough to think it all a fleeting dream, to think she could still wake up from if someone pinched her.

The new and improved Artemis knew the score. She followed the rules, never toed the line, and never tipped the scale. Unless her recent habit of saving civilians counted as being insubordinate.

Her old, impressionable self was long gone and forgotten. Never to return. Snakes don't crawl back into the skin they've already shed.

The sudden reappearance of old wounds rubbed her raw, but her melancholy didn't last. At that moment, Wally thumped himself on the chest, let out a burp, and sat back for a moment to admire the feeling, like how a smoker sits back to admire having expelled a perfect ring of smoke. He barely noticed Artemis's jaw fall open and her face contort with revulsion.

"You're disgusting. I can't believe they let you out in public."

Wally snorted. "It's called animal magnetism, Blondie."

Artemis dropped her head into her hands. At least he got the animal part right. The boy was an absolute pig. "Oh my god, someone get me out of here," she groaned. "Anywhere, as long as I don't have to put up with this."

"Hey, if you can't handle it there's always Belle Reve," he said in a singsong voice.

"Not happening."

"Really, why not?"

"That's none of your business," she snapped. This was one bridge she wasn't prepared to cross.

"What's the matter?" he taunted. "Can't handle it? Afraid? If you're so tough, why not break out?"

She leveled him with a firm glare. He yawned in reply as though her ferocity had glanced right off him. That was unsettling. She liked it better when men flinched under her gaze. Clearly this whole imprisonment business was desensitizing him.

She gave a hollow laugh. "What makes you think I could break myself out? Pulling a jailbreak requires a team, back-up, an inside man."

"So get the Shadows to help you out."

That would be the day. "Wow, you must really want me out of here. Have I overstayed my welcome?"

"I'm just curious. What makes Artemis, evil archer girl extraordinaire, so afraid of jail?"

They were just words, nothing more than childish babbling. He shouldn't have been getting under her skin this much. But after everything she had been through with these people, and with him especially, there was a small part of her that couldn't hold back anymore.

"I'm not  _afraid_  of jail," she snapped. "Not Belle Reve, or even Arkham. I've had more than enough experience getting caught."

"Really?" He made an exaggerated dubious face. "Sounds like fear to me."

She wanted to strangle him with his own goggles. "Oh my god, you're annoying. Fine, if I tell you, will you shut the hell up?"

He raised three fingers in a Girl Scout salute. "Absolutely, speedster's honor."

Artemis stared determinately at the ceiling when she spoke next. Was it worth it? Telling him? Maybe it was the imaginary brain tumor talking, but the words tumbled out before she could stop them.

"If I went to jail…I'd be leaving someone behind. Someone I can't afford to let down. If it's not too late."

Artemis stopped. What was she saying? Of course it was too late.

She remembered how angry her mother had been when Lawrence had proudly let it slip that Artemis had turned criminal. Artemis was the one person Paula didn't want involved with the life. Her sweet, innocent daughter who sent postcards every week to keep her mother's spirits alive even in the bowels of jail. To give her hope. Paula had always said that, out of her daughters, Artemis wasn't cut out for the life.

Artemis wondered if her mother had been right after all. Then she wondered if her mom knew her precious daughter had been locked up for the past month. She wondered if Lawrence had told her. Or if Lawrence even cared.

Wally's grating voice snapped her from her reverie. "So, who is it? Your dad, your sister, a boyfriend, or maybe a girlfriend?" He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Artemis felt a wave of hot anger rise up in her chest, then pop like a bubble and melt into exhaustion. She slid sideways on the chair and let her legs dangle over the armrest to match his earlier positioning. She was so tired. So, so tired.

"Ugh…I should've shot you in that damn museum," she mumbled into her hand.

He looked up at her, all traces of teasing gone. "Why didn't you?"

"What?"

"I noticed that night when I was on the ground. You had me right in your sights and I couldn't move. What made you stop?"

_One shot._

_Live to run another day, little man._

Artemis pulled up the hood of her sweatshirt, hiding the better part of her face from view. "So many questions. What do you want me to say, Kid? It wasn't part of the job. Waste of arrows. Whatever."

She could feel his eyes boring into her like little green lie detectors that made her feel almost guilty for giving perfectly reasonable excuses.

He opened his mouth to speak, and suddenly then jerked his head towards the window, one ear cocked as though listening for footsteps. Artemis rolled her eyes. She had long since guessed they were using telepathy to communicate. A little effort to hide it would have been nice.

He gave a slight nod of assent and stood from his chair. "Well, looks like that's all for today. There's crime afoot."

"Wait a sec," Artemis picked up the book from where he'd left it on the floor. "Don't you need this?"

"Nah, I'll be fine. But if you're feeling bored and want to write an essay on it for me, I wouldn't say no."

She put a hand on her hip. "Not a chance."

Before she could react he had crossed the room and yanked the drawstrings of her sweatshirt so that the fabric completely enclosed her face except for a little circle around her nose and upper lip.

"'The hell!" She fumbled to loosen the strings. "What was that for?"

"No reason," he sang on his way out of the room.

Color rose in her cheeks. It was down right embarrassing. For him to have gotten the drop on her like that was unprecedented.

The room suddenly felt swelteringly hot. She stripped off the sweatshirt and dropped it in a heap on the floor. Then she gathered it up again, folded it properly, and placed it softly at the foot of her bed. It was official; captivity had made her soft.

 _Still, that was…unexpected,_  she thought.  _For him to be so nice._ Artemis traced the faded paper book cover with her fingertips.

Maybe…no, he wouldn't have. Even Kid Flash wasn't that dumb…

She opened the book. There on the inside cover was a list of names. At the bottom, alongside a stamp of the current year, was the name Wally West.

As if that weren't proof enough, he had drawn several Flash symbols in the corner. Had he lowered his guard that much? Had he really been  _that_  eager to do something nice for her?

For the first time in what felt like years, something resembling a smile tugged at the corners of her lips, like an old reflex happily dusting itself off.

Even though the sunlight filtering through the single window of tempered glass in the ceiling was dim and ineffective, there was still a significant change in the room. The walls looked paler, the lamps shone brighter, the metal rails of her bed twinkled with light, and, even while sitting alone without her sweatshirt, a strange warmth was spreading along her skin as though she was wrapped in a transparent blanket.

"What an idiot," she thought.

* * *

If there was one thing Roy Harper had come to terms with over the past few days, it was that this woman, Cheshire, Jade Nguyen, whoever she was, she was playing him like a goddamn harp.

She had been unconscious for two days. No real surprise. Falling off cliffs did tend to tax the body. The journey back from Infinity Island plus taking care of Jade had been so draining that he'd slept a whole day and awoken to Robin's frantic transmission.

He had since calmed the team and informed them of Cheshire's whereabouts, but that still left the bigger problem. What to do with the assassin on his couch?

A slice of sunlight cut across the room to shine directly on Cheshire's stirring face. Roy stood above her, silent, arms crossed. He wasn't about to take any chances. Not with her. She blinked and squinted to see him clearly, as his position in front of the window made appear wreathed with light. She raised a hand to cover her eyes and found her wrists to be bound.

Her voice was croaky and a little strained. "Handcuffs, huh? How'd you manage that?"

It was hard to disguise the note of triumph in his voice. "There may have been a light sedative in the water I gave you."

She smirked. "Kinky."

Roy rolled his eyes and busied himself with the coffee. It was going to take all of his energy to get through a coherent conversation with her.

His guest was scanning her surroundings like a good little assassin. He suddenly felt self-conscious of the apartment's general squalor. In the few days he had been away from home, dust had gathered in every possible corner, another pigeon had gotten through the pathetic window screen, and the place had developed some kind of odor that smelled the cross between a dead animal and Wally's Kid Flash uniform. Truly rank.

"The solo vigilante business must be going well," Cheshire remarked. "Did you win the lease in a cereal box or something?"

Ouch. Right for the financials. "It suits me," he said gruffly.

"If you ask me, this place could really use a woman's touch," she said with a sly smile.

"If I see one I'll ask," he shot back. It was petty, but he refused to let her get the upper hand with suggestive humor. "Now, spill. What happened back there with Sportsmaster?"

She fingered the faded shadow of a bruise on her cheek. "Isn't it obvious? I got an extra special dose of fatherly love."

"But what does this mean for the plan? Remember, your sister? The one we're holding 'in captivity?'" he said with finger quotes. "I heard from the team this morning. The League's gotten antsy, especially since you're out of commission."

"Hey, don't count me out just yet."

"Oh please," he scoffed. "Right now you can barely fight gravity, let alone the Shadows."

She gave a little shrug. What an infuriating woman. Roy couldn't even begin to describe the strife she had put him through and all with a puzzling smile and a few raunchy quips. Maybe it was the benefit of growing up in a crime family, or just a defense mechanism honed over years of misbehavior.

He dragged over a chair and sat with his hands clasped. "I don't think I'll ever figure you out completely, Cheshire. But I have to know. Why are you doing this? I know you love your sister and all, but this is an awful risk for both of you. The team and the League as well."

Cheshire surveyed him with calculating dark eyes for a moment. He couldn't tell if she wanted to slit his throat or make a daring escape. His fingers inched towards his crossbow holster in case of either scenario.

But instead she sighed and gave him a relenting smile. "If I'm going to recite my life story, I'll need some coffee," she said pointedly. "Or something a lot stronger. If you have anything the rats haven't gotten to yet, that is."

He scowled, but obliged. It was definitely too early in the morning for this kind of banter. The percolator freed its last few drops into the pot, which he brought over to the living room. Wordlessly, he handed her a cup while sipping from his own chipped mug. The blunt taste sharpened his senses almost immediately.

There was something almost peaceful about the way she gripped the mug with both hands, letting the steam warm her fingers, a little smile on her lips. It made him forget. Their positions, their pasts, their backgrounds, he forgot them all for a moment. But only for a moment.

She gave him a toothy grin. "Look how close we've gotten, sipping coffee like old friends. Doesn't it just warm your heart?"

He hastily slammed the mug back on the table. How had he let himself be at peace with this woman in the room? "Answers, Cheshire.  _Now._ "

"All right, all right." She placed the mug as carefully as she could on the floor and crossed her knees. "Do you want the Lifetime special version or the Cliff Notes version?"

"Whichever takes less time."

"Cliff Notes then," she settled back in the couch. Her gaze was direct, but almost unwillingly so. "Artemis and I were raised by criminal parents. Mom wanted us out of the life, and Dad did everything to keep us in. Six years ago, when she was…crippled during a job and sent off to jail, he took charge and created the fabulous killing Crock sisters you know today."

He nodded. This much matched the information they had received. Hearing the words come from her instead of reading off a file was a rather different experience. Her words were raw and tortured under a mask of humor. How very like her.

"But you don't go by Crock."

"No," she agreed. "Without Mom around to cool us down, Lawrence and I had several…disagreements. So I ditched the fam and took my mother's maiden name. I didn't want to be tied to him, not even on paper."

"What about Artemis?"

Cheshire's eyes softened. "I couldn't take her with me. She was too young and my line of work was dangerous. But, little did I know, the true danger was at home. Children don't like it when their toys run away, you see. Artemis never forgave me for leaving her with  _him_."

"But if you both hate him so much, why do you work with him for the Shadows?"

She gave a little shrug, her mind clearly elsewhere. "What can I say, Red? Humans can be contradictory."

Roy frowned. That wasn't the answer he would have expected from her. His hands shivered slightly around the mug handle. He made a mental note to lower the air conditioning later. "Doesn't make up for the fact that he terrorized you and your sister as children."

"I never said that."

"You might as well have."

"Nevertheless," she waved a hand dismissively, the metal links clinking merrily. "We became mercenaries for the League of Shadows and lived happily ever after. The end. Is that all?"

He held up a hand. "Whoa, whoa, that's it? You didn't answer what happened with Sportsmaster on the island! And I've still got plenty of questions."

"Oh, I'm sure you do. But are you really in the right state to ask them?"

"Wh –?" Roy glanced down at his hands again. They were shaking so badly brown liquid splashed from the rim, dotting his hands.  _You idiot!_  he realized.  _This crap apartment doesn't have air conditioning!_

He stumbled from the chair, knocking the mug to the ground where it shattered into thick shards. Spilled coffee dripped in a steady rhythm from the table. Roy tried to find the chair for the support, but the sudden lack of depth perception made him snatch the empty air. He slumped to his knees, teeth gritted with anger.

She had already freed herself from her bonds and was standing over him, rubbing her wrists with a disdainful smile. "Don't be so dramatic. It's not poison. Just a little something to help you sleep for the next, oh, twenty-four hours?"

His mind was still reeling, his heartbeat erratically pounding in his ears. "How…"

Cheshire dangled the handcuffs in front of his nose. "Use a stronger sedative next time."

She started moving around the apartment, collecting her things and snapping on her belt. Roy struggled to move, to stop her, but his body felt like he was moving through a sea of syrup. It was useless.

"W-what are you going to do?" he asked.

"What do you think?" She wore such a bitter expression. It was jarringly different from any face he'd ever seen from her before. "That stunt we pulled hurt Sportsmaster's pride big time. If I know my dad – and I do – he's going after the rest of my family. They can't find Artemis, the team's made sure of that, but he  _can_ find my mom. And if he finds her…let's just say, she won't need to file for that divorce anymore." She rolled up an array of kunai knives and stuffed them in her pack. "Besides, it's about time I settled a few things with dear old dad. With any luck he probably thinks I'm dead after that fall so I'll have the element of surprise."

His deadened tongue felt like a brick. Words dribbled out slowly, without control. "But it's…trap…you can't…"

"That's a chance I've got to take," she said, adjusting her kunai. "And who's to say I don't have a trap of my own?"

Idiot, idiot,  _idiot._ What did she think getting caught would accomplish? He wanted so badly to shake the altruism out of her, but darkness was creeping in fast from the corners of his eyes.

Cheshire stood in the middle of the room, and stretched her arms like she was going out for a light jog. "Whelp. Gotta run. Things to do, family to save, fathers to kill. You know how it is. But this was fun! Let's do it again some time. I'll let you keep the handcuffs just in case." She winked and headed for the window.

She was acting like none of this concerned her. Like she stormed assassin bases every other day. But it was all an act, and he knew it. She was doing it to protect her mother. To protect Artemis. Maybe even to protect him.

"Let…me…help…" he managed to say.

She stopped in her tracks, already posed for flight. To his surprise, she withdrew from the window and heaved his arms over her shoulders to help him collapse on the couch. He was too weak to move. It was taking all his effort to stare at her through heavily lidded eyes.

When she spoke, her voice was smooth and warm. There was no trace of her usual mocking sneer and teasing eyes. "That's sweet of you, Roy," she said. "But I can't get you involved anymore. This was never your fight to begin with."

"Wrong," he said. "You…made it…my…" His voice trailed off, unable to form the sounds. But it wasn't necessary.

Jade smiled. There was something almost resembling affection in her eyes, like a beam of sunlight had found its way in her smile.

Roy fought to keep his eyes open, but sleep had a death grip on him. His eyes fluttered closed. Through his floating consciousness, he felt her smooth back his hair, press a light kiss to his forehead – just to piss him off, naturally – and her fading voice say, "Sweet dreams."

She spoke with the same tone one would use to say goodbye.

The last sound he could remember was the tinkling sound of her laugh and the rush of wind from an open window. Then silence.

Dawn hit him the next morning like a smack across the face. He bolted up from the couch and his head nearly split with pain in protest. The apartment was still and empty; her absence had created a void in the room.

A light breeze flowed through the open window and rustled a piece of paper above his head.

Roy shot up and found him face to face with a dangling note. It was speared to the wall with one of Jade's kunai. The note was short, only a few lines written in a hasty scrawl, but long enough that the words chilled him to the bone.

Numb with dread, he contacted the team.

"It's me," he said. "Bad news. Cheshire's gone. She  _was_  here, but…" He glanced at the note once more and felt cold sweat on the back of his neck. "It's Sportsmaster. He's got her now."

When the conversation was over, he dropped to the couch. The ragged curtains still danced in the autumn air. He half expected to see Cheshire's lithe form drop in with the breeze, flipping thick inky black hair over her shoulder, with a cool smile on her lips and new proposition to screw up his life.

Roy buried his head in his hands. It was his fault for not keeping a proper eye on her. For getting too comfortable. And it was her fault for being stupid and thinking she could do this on her own.

"Idiots," he thought. "The both of us."

 


	9. The Choice

The school bell was Wally's starter's pistol. The second he heard the shrill vibrating tones that signaled lunch, he was off. Out of school, out of the state, and into the wilderness. Scenery flashed by him in one collective blend of color and sound, and in the moment he let out a whoop of joy. As far as he was concerned, school was out and his job – his  _real_ job – was about to begin.

And today was his turn to visit Artemis.

The Cave was deserted when he arrived. Robin, Conner, and M'gann were still at school, Kaldur was in Atlantis, and Red Tornado was probably lurking out of sight in his ceiling room like some giant red robotic owl.

Wally checked the time. Still ten minutes until noon. He bustled around the kitchen, removing jars of mayo and pickles, packages of cold cuts, and a long loaf of bread. No point in waiting on an empty stomach.

As he built his skyscraper of a sandwich, he found himself strategizing his entrance. When was the best time to go in the room, a little early to catch her off-guard? Casually like last time with a little air of indifference? A big smile on his face from the start? No, too obvious. Would it put her at ease if he acted hostile like he used to? No, that aspect of their relationship needed to change.

Wally sighed. Liking someone the way he liked Artemis was hard work. He had only recently come to terms with these feelings. There had simply been no point in denying it anymore. She filled up his thoughts until he wanted to scrub his brain clean just to think about something – anything – else. It was more than a vapid fascination with her looks, which he had experienced time and time again. It was a deep infatuation with her intellect, her personality, her ethics, her fire. It was the way she called him on his shit one day and the way she pretended she wasn't laughing at his stupid jokes the next.

To him, Artemis was something burning and bright, like a firework they were trying to keep in a box. But to her? He was just one of her jailers. An annoying little kid with a bad temper and a big appetite. She couldn't possibly feel the same way. Could she?

Wally waved the depressing thoughts away. This wasn't the time to dwell on his little emotional civil war. They needed an answer from Artemis soon or…

_Recognized: Green Arrow. 08._

_Recognized: Black Canary. 13._

Wally whipped around, nearly knocking a jar of mayonnaise off the counter. What were  _they_ doing here?

"Hey there, Wally!" Green Arrow's jovial voice boomed. He strode casually into the kitchen with Black Canary at his side. They appeared friendly enough, but this couldn't be a social visit.

"What's up?" Wally asked. "We don't have training today, do we?"

"Not today," she replied. Her face was a mask of serene calm, but he knew their combat instructor better than to interpret her tone as anything over than serious. "We're here for Artemis."

At once his hands clenched defensively. "Why do you need to see her?"

Green Arrow put a firm hand on his shoulder. "It's time, Wally."

Wally's mouth opened and closed like a goldfish. "But the deadline's not for another three days! We still have time to –"

"This plan of Cheshire's has gotten out of hand. The League needs an answer. We can't afford to keep her around without if she has no intention of helping us."

"Unless you have some insight on the subject that would help?" Black Canary added quickly.

This was a difficult question for many reasons. One being that he couldn't answer truthfully without spilling his romantic guts to Black Canary, and another being that he was supposed to be on record as hating Artemis's guts. Though at the moment the only gut he wanted to care about was currently rumbling for food. He decided to play it cool and took a large bit of his sandwich. Stuffing his face ought to do the trick. When did it not?

"I don't know if I'm the best person to ask since I spent a while holding a pretty serious grudge…" he said with a nonchalant air.

"Oh yeah, we heard she kicked you in the face."

He twitched a bit at that. "But you shouldn't take it from me. Talk to her before you decide anything. Just…give her that."

"Of course we will, Wally," Black Canary said kindly.

"Quick question," Green Arrow raised a finger and eyed Wally up and down. "Do you always wear civvies in front of her like this?"

A thick clump of tomato, lettuce, and turkey nearly lodged itself in Wally's throat. He coughed several times and took a large swallow of milk. The mixture slid down thickly and he was left with the taste of guilt in his mouth. They hadn't exactly cleared his new "being nice to Artemis" strategy with their mentors.

Wally thumped his chest a few times. "No! Okay, sometimes. Not all the time. Today I just came from school so…" he trailed off guiltily.

Black Canary raised an eyebrow. "She  _knows_  you're in school?"

"…Is that bad?"

The couple exchanged a look. "I suppose not. Well, we're ready to see her now, if that's okay," said Black Canary, her blue eyes twinkling.

"Sure, yeah, just take a right over there, it's the first door you see. Look for the giant observation window thingy." Wally pointed them towards the cell room.

An iron knot twisted around in Wally's stomach as he watched Green Arrow and Black Canary stride away with a sense of purpose. They were clearly still operating under the assumption that she could turn on them at any second. Would this conversation convince them of that or change their minds entirely? He clutched his abdomen as though trying to soothe the butterflies playing a samba rhythm in the pit of his stomach, and slid his sandwich into the fridge. His stomach growled in protest, but its complaints would be in vain.

He was too nervous to eat. And  _that_ was never a good sign.

* * *

Over the past few days, Artemis had been experiencing the strangest sensations. She started sleeping soundly at night and waking up at her leisure in the morning. The team's daily visits had become a choreographed routine that she had actually begun to anticipate, mostly for lack of any other contact, but the team made great pains to make their conversations somewhat interesting.

Once, Red Tornado had brought her breakfast when the super teens were busy. The humanoid strode creakily into the room, deposited the tray, and stood by the door like a big brooding red statue. That is, if robots were capable of brooding. In any case, the silence was heavy.

Artemis twirled a plastic fork between her fingers. "So…do  _you_  have any inspiring words of wisdom for me?"

He – it? – turned to face her and said in a low mechanical tone, "No."

"Nothing? Not even a little speech?"

"No."

"What about a story of how someone you know in my situation turned their life around and has never been happier?"

"No."

"How about -?"

" _NO,"_ he had thundered with a note of absolute finality.

It had been awkward after that.

But that afternoon was Kid Flash aka Wally West's turn and for once she was looking forward to it. Since discovering his alter ego identity courtesy of a book, she had prepared several jokes in preparation for his next visit. Two were scathing, one was legitimately funny, another was a pun, and all of them insulted his intelligence.

She had even taken to calling him Wally in her head, mostly for the entertainment value. Seriously, what kind of name is Wally? It had to be short for Wallace, in which case his life was twice as unfortunate as she'd thought.

Artemis bided her time flipping through the wrinkled pages. Every once in a while there would be a disjointed note scribbled hastily in the margins. One of them read, "symbolism?" and another, "This probably means something." She stifled a giggle. He had circled an entire page several times and written "SCIENTIFICALLY INACCURATE" in large indignant letters.

The door slid open with its familiar whir.  _Excellent,_ she thought.

Artemis whipped around with a premature grin of triumph on her face and promptly dropped the book as though it had burst into flames. Standing in the doorway were none other than Green Arrow and Black Canary. Actual League members, minus the brief encounter with Red Tornado, never came to call on her, much less one who had been her childhood hero.

Green Arrow looked a bit older, a bit haggard, and a lot more relaxed than the spry, rugged figure she had grown up watching every morning on TV. He was the reason she had chosen archery as her main concentration among the other skills Sportsmaster had taught her.

But now was not the time for gawking. They weren't the young sidekicks she had formed something of a bond with over the past few weeks. They were adults, dedicated fighters of evil and protectors of global safety. What could they possibly want with her?

She watched the heroes warily from her bed. Black Canary was the first to greet her with a kind smile.

"Please, sit," She gestured calmly to Artemis's usual armchair.

The rusting evil side of her had an impulse not to comply, but there wasn't any reason not to sit and have a nice chat with two of the strongest people in League history. No pressure. None whatsoever.

She swallowed, hoping to mask her nerves with a little false confidence. "Wow, Green Arrow and Black Canary in my humble little cell. What's the occasion? I thought it was Kid Moron's turn today."

Black Canary taps a manicured finger on her cheek, "Interesting that you were anticipating him. Getting along better with the team?"

She shrugged, mentally kicking herself for saying anything. These days speaking comfortably with the team have made her soft. "More like I don't consider them a threat and have resigned myself to my fate," she said.

"Your fate?"

She nodded. "Death by small talk."

Green Arrow sniggered and was silenced by a single look from Black Canary. Artemis flushed slightly. I just made my childhood hero laugh with a dumb joke, she thought. Nothing cool about that. Nothing at all.

Green Arrow cleared his throat. "In any case, we're glad you're seem to be getting along. It's actually surprising. Based on what we've seen from our extensive research on you…"

"Extensive?" Artemis sat up rigid as a board. "How extensive exactly?"

Sensing he had let too much slip, the green hooded hero shifted uncomfortably, pointedly ignoring Black Canary's glare. "Well, we had to be sure you were unaware of – I mean, we – the League, that is – wanted to prove that your loyalties were, in fact, flimsy."

Artemis frowned. "There was nothing 'flimsy' about my work for the Shadows. I did what I was told."

"We know. But following orders and believing in them are two very different things. There are plenty of people who do…unsavory work simply because they have no other course open to them."

And now I sound like a prostitute, Artemis thought.

Black Canary took the helm at this point. "You're not the only one who came with a troubled past," she said. "In fact, there isn't a single member of this team who didn't with more than a little baggage."

She found that hard to believe. Sure, Aqualad and Superboy had the emotional responses of a couple of boulders so it wasn't far-fetched, and Robin was protégé to the great big brooding terror of the night so clearly _something_  had to be wrong with him. But the other two?

"Really? What about Kid Flash? And Miss Martian? They both seem a bit too cheery for their own good."

Black Canary's eyes were filled with sympathy. "Well, I can't speak for either of them, but in Miss Martian's case I would imagine being an alien and living in a society that hasn't fully accepted them yet would be hard for anyone," she said.

Artemis's eyes dropped to the floor. She had never considered that.

"As for Kid Flash…it's not for me to say. But I'm sure he'd tell you if you asked nicely."

She snorted with derision. "Yeah, while I'm at it we can make best friend necklaces and braid each other's hair. Kid Flash and I don't exactly get along. Or was that not in your 'extensive' research?"

"No, no, we noticed." Green Arrow raised both hands in a defensive pose. She immediately felt her hackles lower. Offending him felt a lot like beating up children.

Black Canary, however, sat forward and propped her elbow on one fishnet-covered knee, her eyes shrewdly examining Artemis with interest. "I can't help but notice a trend here. You seem especially worried about Kid Flash and his opinions."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing. Just that you might be in denial about a few things. Including the idea of joining their team."

"Look, it's not about whether or not I want to join the junior Justice League and fight for all things nice and fluffy, okay?" Artemis nearly snapped. She restrained her tone in fear of being on the receiving end of a canary cry. "I'm not in denial," she said quietly. "I'm just realistic about my situation. And the reality is that no matter what happens there's no way I can go back to my old life."

"Meaning you've given up on the Shadows?"

"Meaning the Shadows have given up on  _me_. And I don't blame them."

Black Canary gave her a sympathetic look and placed a hand on Artemis's chair, near her hand. "Artemis…I know you've had a lot to deal with these past few weeks, and I know it must be hard. But please understand that we only want to help. We've helped plenty of kids in your position –"

"I'm  _not_ a kid."

"No, you're right. You're a strong, grown young woman," the older woman said with a hint of righteous passion. "One who's had to deal with more hardships and cruelties than any other girl your age could ever understand. What we're offering is a place with people who understand. Who feel the same way. Somewhere you'll never be truly alone. For now, don't worry about what the future might hold, just answer this. What do _you_  want?"

Artemis cast a cautious glance at Dinah's outstretched hand and then at Green Arrow, who gave her a warm smile. A small chill ran through her spine. Back in the day, before Lawrence raised her for a life of crime, she used to watch Green Arrow on TV and pretend to shoot arrows with chopsticks and rubber bands around the apartment. It used to drive her mother up the wall. Being faced with those memories of a brighter time and with the difficult truth that she'd been struggling with all this time was overwhelming.

As though on cue to interrupt her mood, Kid Flash burst into the room. He was practically out of breath and flustered, but straightened up when he saw them sitting there.

"Sorry to interrupt," he said politely, barely making eye contact with Artemis. "GA, Black Canary, Batman's calling for you. Emergency meeting."

Black Canary stood at once. "We're on our way." Before leaving she patted Artemis's hand softly and said in a low tone, "Think about it, okay?"

Artemis briefly twitched her head in a motion that couldn't be taken for either a nod or shake. When they were gone, she drew her knees up to her chest and stared off into space. She didn't even notice that Kid Flash – or rather, Wally – had hung back in the doorway until he spoke.

"So, uh, what'd you guys talk about?"

She shrugged. "Not much."

"But, uh, did they ask you whether or not you wanted to…you know…" He made a wide, inexplicable gesture.

"To join the team?" she translated. "Yeah, they asked."

There was a pause in which he stared at her expectantly. His body was pitched forward slightly like a diver looking off the edge of a springboard. When she still didn't answer he prompted, "And?"

"And that was it. You came in before I could answer."

Wally looked ready to punch himself. In fact, he looked so frustrated with himself that it was almost…well…cute.

And it was perhaps that thought which drove her to say, "Hey, could I ask you something?"

To her surprise, he glanced quickly out into the hallway, closed the door, and took the vacated seat in front of her. "Sure thing, what's up?"

Something about his casual eagerness felt downright unsettling. He had changed the way he talked to her that was certain. "Well, um," she started, unsure to phrase her thoughts. "When we were talking, Black Canary told me I wasn't the only one around with a, um, rough background. She mentioned you all had some pretty heavy baggage. Is that true?"

He hesitated, clearly judging how specific he was allowed to be. "She's not wrong," he admitted. "I mean, even with powers, we're only human. Most of us," he hastily corrected. "For people like us, being different isn't always what it's chocked up to be. It can be tough."

"Even for you?"

"Huh?"

"Yeah, I mean, it's got to make life a bit more convenient, right? Having super speed?"

Wally bit his lip, brows snaking together in concern. "I guess if I ever have a craving for baguettes it's not so hard to zip to France and back. But why do you ask?"

She shrugged, feigning nonchalance. "You all know my secrets. Seems only fair I know a few."

"Except you're still technically our hostage so you're not in the position to know any secrets," he pointed out. Blunt as always.

"Fine, I was just curious. So sue me," she grumbled. "Is it so wrong to wonder how the other half lives?"

"No, I guess not," he said distractedly wringing his hands. "It's just…hard to explain.

Artemis wondered for a moment if she had stepped on an emotional land mine or something. She had never seen Wally look so hesitant. Yet, to her surprise, he spoke anyway.

"Look, uh…right, do you know how the Flash got his powers?"

Artemis thought for a moment, recalling her training. She had read up on all members of the Justice League, but never felt the need to apply her knowledge. She had never actually faced them in combat, only viewed them from afar. "Based on brief encounters and what my dad's told me neither of you were  _born_  with the ability to run at the speed of light in spandex. You both get it from some kind of extra-dimensional energy that alters your molecular structure allowing you to take in kinetic energy and break the sound barrier. It's pure science. Or so I assume."

Wally stared at her slack-jawed for a moment as though she had just thrown her bra at him. "Y-yeah, that's basically it. Point is, like you said, we weren't born with it. The difference is that his speed was brought on by accident; mine was on purpose. I sort of re-created the Flash's powers in my garage."

Though there was the faintest hint of pride in his voice, he didn't sound very excited about it. Artemis didn't understand why not. Even she had to admit it sounded like an impressive accomplishment.

"And you've been the Flash's protégé ever since?" she asked.

He sighed and scratched his head, thinking. "See, that's the complicated part. I ended up with Flash's super speed, but not before that one teensy experiment almost got me killed." He gave a wry, humorless laugh. "My work literally exploded in my face. After getting out of the hospital it took weeks of persuasion for my parents to even let me out of the house, let alone become a costumed superhero." She noticed his hands, which were clasped on his lap, tightened slightly. "And even after all that I'll never hold a candle to the original. My powers aren't just incomplete. Compared to him, they're artificial."

Artemis didn't know what to say. Some kind of warm, frothing feeling had welled up inside of her listening to his story. It was so out of place and unnatural that she just wanted to squash it down, but her eyes betrayed her sympathy for the young speedster.

He noticed her expression and gave a short embarrassed laugh. "Damn, why am I even saying this?"

Her heart pained not just for Wally – thought he did seem to fill up the majority – but for all those dumb sidekicks she'd written off without a second thought. There was no reason heroes didn't have it worse than villains, despite their life choices.

"I don't know why you think your abilities are artificial, but…" she took a breath. "But as long as your desire to help people is genuine, isn't that what matters?"

With that her memories took hold once more. Back to the night she had made the most drastic mistake in her joke of a villain career. What Sportsmaster hadn't noticed, the secret she'd die to protect before telling him, was that it hadn't been a mistake.

Artemis had been perched on a rooftop as per usual, watching the proceedings without much interest. She couldn't even remember whom they were fighting or why, and at the time it didn't matter. When the Shadows say jump, you leap.

What she did remember was a little girl. Standing in the crowd. She couldn't have been more than nine years old with long loose blonde hair, so similar to the way Artemis had worn her own as a child. The girl's father - a bumbling man with a goatee holding a camera aloft - had hurried her off to the side and, like any other idiot reporter, rushed forward to capture the scene while the girl wailed for him to come back.

For a moment, Artemis saw herself reflected in that girl. But more importantly she saw the airborne car hurtling towards them in the distance. That was when her instincts kicked in. She shot an arrow so that it stuck fast in the ground before the man's feet, making him skid to a stop. When he lifted his head to find the source he saw the car and managed to dive out of the way just in time before being crushed under a heap of scorched metal.

Artemis had let out a long exhale, relief washing through her, when her eye caught the child's gaze. Training had taught her better than to stand there, stuck fast like her arrow, and stare back. The Shadows had a rule for this. W hen noticed by civilians, take preventive measures. Eliminate all witnesses.

But she couldn't. She was forced to stand there, still as a statue, and watch the little blonde girl mouth two words. "Thank you."

No one had ever thanked her before. Not like that.

"Thanks."

Artemis's head snapped up she almost got whiplash. For a split second she wondered if the mind reading was included in the speedster's arsenal of powers.

"What?"

"Uh, thanks. For what you said. That was…" he leaned forward to speak under his breath. Artemis leaned backwards slightly in tandem, suddenly uncomfortable with his closeness. "That was surprisingly cool of you."

"Apparently I'm full of surprises," she muttered more to herself than him.

Wally opened his mouth to say something, then closed it. Then opened it again. Then shook his head and closed it again. It was frustrating to watch.

His hand flew through the mess of red hair. It seemed to be a frequent habit that popped up whenever words failed him or, in this case, when he was embarrassed.

"Crap, this probably sounds a lot better in my head than out loud, but here goes. I need to explain something before I say…what I'm about to say. So that there are no misunderstandings. Okay?"

"Okay."

"Good. First off, you have never been my favorite person in the world. In fact, there was a time when I didn't like you. At all."

That was not where she thought the conversation was going. "Hasn't this already been established?"

"And I was never a fan of this plan to get you on the team," he spoke over her words. "But, now that we've had a few of these 'interrogation sessions,'" he mimed finger quotes around the last two words. "I've gained something of a new perspective. And I've fought you now so I have to admit that you're pretty good. It's just that you don't seem…look, I don't really care if you join or not, but..." He ran a hand through his hair again, clearly grasping for words. "I've seen a lot of bad guys in my day, and you...you seem different from them somehow. It's like you're trying really hard to be evil, but it doesn't come naturally to you. All I'm saying is that of all the bad guys out there, you're the least suited for it."

"For what?"

"For this," he gestured to the room around them at large. "Being a hostage, being a criminal; it doesn't feel right."

Words stuck inside her throat. For some reason, the way he had started speaking made her think…well, she didn't know what to think or what to expect, but it felt like he was going in a whole different direction than she had been anticipating. It was a bit disappointing for some reason.

"I'm...not sure how to respond to that."

"A real villain would probably see it as an insult."

She couldn't help herself. Her lips quirked in a little smile, and he grinned in reply. Neither of them said a word, and there was nothing tense or uncomfortable about that silence. For once, her thoughts did not interfere. It was as if they had reached some invisible, unspoken level of understanding.

The truth was congealed in her stomach like a hot ball of lead. But if not him, who else? Someone had to know. Someone had to help her understand.

The words slowly wriggled their way out. "You know, before I ran into you guys at the museum, there was a bit of a…situation. I sort of made a mistake on a previous job. See, there were these civilians and –"

But the moment was ruined when the door slid open and Robin, the Boy Blunder, came barreling into the room.

"Artemis, we – KF?" The eyelets of his domino mask widened. "What are you doing here?"

Wally leapt to his feet and gave a hacking cough. "Nothing! I was just, uh, keeping Artemis company until Green Arrow and Black Canary came back."

"Well, they're not," Robin replied with an amused smile. He turned to Artemis. "You're coming with us."

Artemis blinked. Surely she had heard that wrong. "Come again?"

Wally rushed over to his teammate and hissed, "Uh, dude, do you hear yourself?"

"Yup. Come on, Artemis. We're setting you free."

 


	10. The Trial

"Maybe I should've clarified when I said we were letting you free. I meant we're letting you leave your room. Not that we're setting you  _free_  free. Sorry, I realize now that was probably a bit misleading," said Robin with an apologetic laugh.

An angry vein pulsed visibly in Artemis's forehead. "You think?" she said through gritted teeth as they led her out in cuffs, Wally on one side and Robin on the other.

Taking the first step from her room was exhilarating. In truth, being locked in a room, spacious or not, had not phased her. Years worth of juvie time had desensitized her from feeling claustrophobic. The moment she entered the wide control room being stared at by at least a dozen superheroes she felt excitement like she had never known. The Justice League. Some of them anyway. Standing together, staring directly at her.

Her brain raced a million miles a minute thinking of what could possibly happen. Would they talk it out and eat brunch together? Or would she wind up speared on the business end of a batarang?  _And me with no weapons to defend myself_ , she thought. More than ever, she missed the familiar weight of her quiver. Without it, the skin on her back felt naked and lifeless.

She looked Batman up and down. Brooding terror of the night or not, the shrunken villainous part of her still wanted a whack at him. For old time's sake. Beside him stood Green Arrow and Black Canary, who wore stern expressions, but in a school principal sort of way. A way that said, "you messed up but after a healthy lecture you'll remember that actions have consequences." Next to them were Martian Manhunter and Red Tornado, both stony and expressionless, and on the end was Speedy - or rather, the self-proclaimed Red Arrow. Keeping in mind that every person in that room could dismantle her in less than a second, she gave him a harmless glare. She had never liked the look of him, and she especially hated how much Jade enjoyed playing cat and mouse with him.

The team stood on Batman's other side. The sight of Aqualad's stern eyes, Superboy's crossed arms, and Miss Martian's encouraging smile loosened the tension in her shoulders. Wally and Robin helped to remove her restraints and unlock the collar from around her neck.

She rubbed her neck, massaging the chafed skin. It had been there for so long she had almost forgotten about it entirely. "Sure it's okay to uncuff me?"

Red Arrow looked like he was suppressing a major eye roll. "When you're unarmed in front of half the Justice League? I think we'll be fine."

"It's a sign of good faith," said Batman. His voice was gravelly and chilling, but had a softer, almost earnest quality. "We need you to trust us right now, Artemis."

"Why? What's the emergency?"

For a moment she glanced pointedly at Wally while asking. He looked confused and gave a minute shrug, as though unsure if she was really looking at him for an answer. It was then she realized that she unconsciously looked to him for the truth, for honesty. She whipped her gaze back to Batman.

"Some new information has come to light concerning your family," the Dark Knight replied.

"Is it that we're still related, because I really don't think I could handle the disappointment."

"Be nice." Wally hissed under his breath.

"For starters, there's now a bounty on your head. A notice was put up yesterday. The Shadows want you dead, Artemis." Green Arrow said grimly.

 _So once again I'm on my own,_  she thought.  _No going back now, even if I'd wanted._ _There's nothing left._  "I see. Well, I wish I could say I'm surprised."

"Unfortunately, that's not all. Your sister - Cheshire - she's been kidnapped."

This was more of a surprise. Partly because her sister was never one to be taken lightly, certainly not without a fight, and partly because the news struck a chord of dread with her. Just when she thought her feelings had figured themselves out.

Robin started tapping away at something on his wrist. "The guys who took Cheshire left a note. We received it this morning." A picture of the note pinned to the wall with one of her sister's kunai popped up on the main holograph screen. "We tested the paper and were able to lift a set of prints." A few more keystrokes brought up Lawrence's mug shot.

Artemis rolled her eyes. Typical dad. Sending her a calling card so easy that it was insulting.

"But what's written on the letter is a different story. It's clearly meant for you."

The letter was simple.  _I have the cat,_ it read.  _You know where I am. You know what to do. Come at midnight tomorrow or I start tying up loose ends._

Vague, melodramatic, and all kinds of threatening. Yep. Sounded like Lawrence.

"How exactly did you get this letter?" she asked.

"It was left behind after Cheshire...well, she  _was_ in our captivity. But she ran away. We think she was taken shortly after that."

Artemis couldn't believe what she was hearing. "She 'ran away?' You managed to tie down my sister - the most stubborn and deadliest assassin you'll ever meet - and then you let her get away?"

"It was a lot more complicated than that, okay?" Red Arrow snapped.

Artemis considered the defensive archer before her. She noticed his bloodshot eyes, the slight hitch in his speech, and the unquestionable shame of a man whose pride has been severely wounded. Looks like Jade got that rematch she'd wanted.

She smirked. "Don't feel bad, Red. My sister tends to have that effect on men."

He glared unabashedly at her, "Y'know what, I'm starting to see the family resemblance."

"The letter, Artemis." Batman interrupted, silencing all further argument. "What does it mean?"

Artemis gritted her teeth. "It's an old contingency plan. If, by some horrible circumstance, we were separated or...betrayed by one of our own, we set up a meeting spot. The old gym where he first trained to become an Olympian, and where he trained us. Basically he's saying come to the gym, come alone, and face your demise."

Robin wrinkled his nose with distaste. "Nice guy."

"The nicest," she scoffed with no real humor. "So? What do you want from me?"

"We would like you to make a decision," Aqualad explained. "Cheshire is a criminal, it is true, but she is also a potential asset. If what we understand about your family history is true for both you and her, given the right incentive she could be the key to finding out the League of Shadow's plans."

Artemis frowned with suspicion. "How…honest."

"It's not a matter of being honest or not," Black Canary countered. She placed one hand on her hip and gestured confidently with the other. Artemis liked how directly the older woman spoke when the men were all busy beating around the bush. "We need your help, Artemis. If we're going to rescue your sister, we have to know whether you're in or out. It's that simple."

 _So what?_  she thought.  _Serves her right. After everything she's put me through, I can't think of a more fitting end._

But…no.

The thoughts curdled painfully in her stomach. What was she thinking? Of course she wanted to save Jade. The pure idiocy of it all was enough to make her laugh.

"Fine," she admitted. "I want to save her. She's my sister. I don't actually want her dead." It felt disgusting just to admit aloud. "I'll help. But I want her to pay," she added fiercely. "For everything."

"Cheshire  _will_  answer for her crimes," Batman said with deadly conviction. "One way or another."

Robin brought up a few files on the holographic screen. A few looked like blueprints and profiles. The picture of Jade's ransom note stayed up in the corner. "Now, we have a few plans, some of them are a bit risky, but with your help they just might…Artemis?"

Artemis stood transfixed by the computer screen, gazing up at the letter. It had just occurred to her. It wasn't just a ransom note, and it wasn't a threat. It was a plan.

The color drained from her face. "Mom…"

"Artemis?" Miss Martian asked, worry sketched all over her face. "What is it?"

"It's just…that line at the end about loose ends. My dad…Lawrence…he's said something this to me before. Once after a job that fell through."

_Never assume it's over once the cops show. It's only over when you're dead or they are. There's always a loose end to clean up, baby girl. Better to snip it off before it comes back to strangle you._

"He's going after my mom. She's the only person…" The only person both she and Jade cared about. "You have to let me see her."

Black Canary bit her lip. "I don't know if that's…"

Green Arrow casually waved a hand. "Let the League take care of protecting your mother. We'll send a dispatch team immediately."

"Don't!" she exclaimed quickly. "If he's monitoring her apartment and sees a bunch of superheroes go in, it might kick his plan into motion. He wouldn't wait to finish off Cheshire."

She couldn't see his face, but she could've sworn Batman was glowering at her. "Then what do you suggest we do?" he asked.

"Let  _me_  go. I have to warn her."

"Why you?"

"Uh, no offense, but my mom has been involved in this game long enough to be distrusting of anyone in a costume. I'm the only person she'll trust. Plus…" It was embarrassing to admit in front of the team, but her options were slim. "I want to show her I'm safe."

Everyone's expressions softened slightly except Batman's, though no one would've expected any less from him.

Red Arrow's expression remained surly. He jabbed an accusing finger at her chest. "How do we know you're not going to tip off the Shadows the second you're out? The whole bounty thing could be a ploy to catch us off guard."

To the general shock of the room, Wally stepped forward. And he looked pissed. "Dude, would you quit ragging on her?"

Red Arrow's scowl deepened. "I don't trust her. And neither should you."

"Well, that's because you don't know her," Wally insisted. "We won't ignore Artemis's past, but I think I speak for the others when I say that we believe her. Her mom has probably been in the dark all this time, sick with worry. If it were my mom? Forget it." He gave an exaggerated shudder.

Red Arrow fell silent. They all looked to be considering Wally's surprising defense.

"Thanks for that," she breathed so only he could hear.

Wally put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. They could both hear the team took a collective breath when he touched her, no doubt thinking she'd lash out and flip him over her shoulder. But Artemis allowed it. She wasn't used to having an ally, and she didn't mind it being Wally. There was something very natural about the way he stood beside to her.

"We'll do anything we can to protect you and your mom," he assured her in a low undertone. She nodded quietly in reply. The waves of nausea settled. She actually felt at ease.

Damn.

Damn it all.

She liked him.

More than she should, more than she deserved to. Within the tangled web of feelings that clogged up her head, a few strands were reserved for him. There was too much confusion for her to separate and define them, but something was there. Lurking under the surface and emerging when she least expected it with about as much subtlety as the speedster himself. But the feelings were there, however small or unclear.

All she could say for certain? They were enough to make her feel bad for lying.

Lawrence was never one to let things stay foggy. The fact that he had set such a long time line was proof. He would let them relax, think they had plenty of time to plan and strategize, and then yank the rug right from under them. It was less graceful than an orchestrated plot, but Lawrence was a fan of striking with full force. And if he was going to strike, it was now. If he hadn't made his move already. There was no way she was letting those overblown heroes take care of things.

This was her family, her mess, and her fight.

Artemis turned back to Batman, letting him see the determination raging in her eyes. "I'll cooperate in any way that I can. You can put a wire on me or send the whole damn Justice League to babysit and I won't complain. Just let me see my mom. Please."

Batman took his time in answering. Finally, he exhaled audibly and said, "Very well. You go, warn her, tell her to trust the League when we send for her, and then you report right back here for mission briefing. Is that clear?"

Artemis stood straighter, feeling almost two feet taller. "Yes."

The others looked partly relieved, partly concerned. The unspoken question lingered in the air above them. Did this mean she was joining the team? Artemis couldn't lie to herself anymore; it was tempting. More than that, it felt right.

She had connected with these teens on a personal level, which was the goal and she was ashamed to say it worked perfectly. In a perfect world without pride, she would have accepted in a heartbeat. She would have hugged that oversized bat around the middle and squeezed him until his eyes popped out of his cowl.

It was a difficult call to make, but the warm pressure of Wally's hand on her shoulder made all her reservations about joining fade away. Suddenly she saw the life she could have laid out in front of her. Tackling bad guys at night, running alongside the team, and pretending to be Artemis Crock, mild-mannered high school student by day. It was so clear, so vivid, so accessible.

But she couldn't. Not yet.

She had to take care of her father. Jade too, if that's what it came to. They'd never let her join if they knew what she was planning. But that's why she had to see her mother. Paula was the one person in the whole world who could understand Artemis, and the thought of her in danger made cold sweat appear on the back of her neck. She would talk with her mom, and then make a decision. And if that decision was to take out two members of her family and throw out her only chance for a semi-normal life, so be it.

"All right then," Robin wiped the files off the board and turned towards the pair of them. He was wearing a most ominous smile. "I vote Kid Flash takes her. All in favor?"

Wally and Artemis sprang apart as if the electric collar had shocked them both.

"What?!" Artemis exclaimed.

"Um, do I look like a taxi service to you?" Wally demanded, his cheeks a tad flushed.

"We're on the clock, KF. And we can't let her use the zeta tubes."

"But why do  _I_  have to? Zeta-ing aside, are we forgetting a certain giant flying alien ship?"

Miss Martian shook her head sadly. "The bioship's still out of commission since our last mission. Remember, the bayou?"

Wally winced in recollection. "Oh, right."

"She'll need at least another day to recover."

"With your speed you can get in and out of the building before anyone notices," Robin pointed out. "No one would even be looking for you."

Much of this conversation was going over her head, but Artemis understood enough about his powers to know that he'd be running while carrying her. As if things couldn't get more embarrassing.

Wally opened and closed his mouth like a goldfish, powerless against logic. He groaned and ruffled his hair. "Ugh, fine. Anyone got a blindfold?"

Artemis backed up immediately. "Oh no. There is  _no_  way I'm –"

The last sensations she could register were a strip of fabric enveloping her sight, Robin's fiendish cackle, and a pain of strong arms lifting her bodily off the ground. For a moment she was weightless and surrounded by secure warmth. And then the fabric of reality thinned into a violent blur.

* * *

The Cave was considerably quieter after Wally had whooshed out of there with their captive-slash-not really a captive.

Green Arrow was the first to speak, a roguish smile stretched across his face. "I'll just say it then. I like her. She's feisty."

"It appears you six bonded more than we had anticipated," J'onn said thoughtfully.

Robin grinned with triumph. "Guess that means the mission was a success, right?"

"Not yet," Batman grunted. His heavy voice dampened their cheer and brought a level of severity to the conversation. "You've done well so far, but until we are one hundred percent she can be trusted the mission remains incomplete."

"Maybe this is a good opportunity for them to speak freely on whether or not they think Artemis belongs on the team," Black Canary added. Batman shot her a questioning look. She shrugged in reply, "Nothing wrong with an open forum."

M'gann spoke up, brows knitted. "But shouldn't Wally be here for this?"

"Oh, I think his feelings on the subject are pretty clear." Robin smirked.

Roy was not amused, as usual. He rubbed one of his bloodshot eyes with a tightly clenched fist. "I still think someone else should've gone with them," he fumed.

"Kid Flash can take care of himself," Black Canary assured him. "As for Artemis, I'd like to hear your opinions."

The team exchanged a look. It wasn't one of confusion or awkwardness, but rather one of determination. They had already made up their minds.

* * *

Wind ripped the screams from Artemis's throat. The force of Kid Flash's speed kept her cemented against his chest, which was admittedly not a horrible position to be in. He was much taller than she had thought, despite seeing him nearly every day. Funny how a life of evaluating people past the point of an arrow stunted her perspective.

It was a surprisingly arduous journey. Wally kept stopping every few miles to ask her for directions and it took a second for her eyes to stop spinning and words to not taste like marbles.

When he pulled over for the fourth time, she made him stop for a breather in the middle of an empty park. Her hair was bushy with tangles that stung in protest when she ran her fingers back like she was carding stubborn blonde wool.

"Hey, this was  _your_  deal," he remarked as she sat slumped on a picnic bench.

"I don't remember adding the part where Kid Cannonball hurls me across the country. I feel like I've been strapped on a roller coaster for two straight weeks."

"I would seriously appreciate it if you called me Kid Flash."

"And I'd seriously appreciate it if this ride had seat cushions, but we can't all get what we want."

"Ungrateful little…I am so dropping you on the way back," Wally collapsed next to her on the bench. "Tell me when you're feeling better and we can leave."

Artemis pinched the bridge of her nose. She had to keep going. If she was going to keep zooming across the country with…

Suddenly she raised her head. This was the outside. This was her first taste of the world in so long. She sat back and took in a deep breath of autumn laced air. It was more beautiful than she remembered. The unfiltered sun was brighter, the breeze felt cooler, and the freshly cut grass smelled sharper. The leaves had shed their green skins and covered the ground in oranges and reds like crinkled flames. It was beautiful.

So why wasn't she happy?

 _Perspective, Artemis,_ she thought.  _You might be outside, but somewhere your crazy father is holding your slightly less crazy sister hostage and your mother is…_

They had to leave. Right away. Her mother needed to be safe. But the very thought of standing made her head swam with nausea and she leaned back against the table.

Wally had been unexpectedly quiet during this time, but when he spoke next it nearly knocked her off the seat.

"Artemis…" he said. "Have you ever killed someone?"

She studied him for a moment. That was unexpected to say the least. Was he asking now because there were no cameras and microphones to hear them? "You know I have," she replied evenly.

"Yeah, but did you ever want to?"

"Why, are you trying to gauge how much of a monster I am?" When he didn't respond, she sighed. "When the Shadows say kill, you kill. Personal feelings are irrelevant."

He squinted slightly. "That many?"

"No!" she snapped. "Not really. I haven't been in the game that long. And it's like you said before. I was always the backup. Not that I hadn't been planning to work my way to the top some day, but…"

Somehow Wally had this knack for asking the last thing she wanted to hear. "Is that what you wanted?"

"What I want or wanted doesn't –"

"Of course it does!" he exclaimed, taking her by surprise. "What do you think would've happened if you had stayed?"

Artemis watched a couple of kids sprint by in the distance while their parents strolled leisurely behind, arm-in-arm. "I guess we'll never know." She turned to look at him. "Why are you asking?"

"Just wanted to see how you'd answer."

She snorted at his attempted nonchalance. "And did I pass the test?"

"Nope," he said, smiling slightly. "You completely and utterly failed."

Her eyebrows furrowed. "And that's a good thing?"

"It is for me," he stood and stretched his arms. "We're wasting time. Ready to go?"

Artemis's face was still scrunched up with confusion, but saving her mother vastly outweighed any of Wally's cryptic statements.

They travelled for what must have been ten seconds, though it felt like hours to Artemis, and for the first time in two years she found herself standing before her mother's rundown Gotham apartment.

If Wally was surprised he didn't do a good job of hiding it. He kept glancing around the street, inspecting the inside of the building, probably reevaluating his expectations. Before they entered her mother's apartment, he slipped out his Kid Flash mask and secured it around his face.

"You don't have to worry about that," Artemis said.

"Can't risk my secret identity. There might be surveillance inside. Besides, isn't your mom an ex-con? We can't take any chances."

"She's not going to hurt you. Trust me."

"If only it were that easy, right?"

Artemis raised an eyebrow at that, but said nothing. Her hand hovered over the beaten wood door. How many times had she stood before this very building and never entered? Speeches she had created to try and explain her choices. That it wasn't because of Lawrence or any particular filial responsibility. That the last person she wanted to hurt was her mom. It all sounded like a child making excuses.

Completely unaware of Artemis's mental gymnastics, Wally had grown impatient. "Come on, we're losing daylight." He rapped on the door before she could protest.

Seconds later, it opened. Wally adjusted his eye level very obviously. The woman at the door was not who he had expected. Paula Crock wheeled away slightly from the door, one hand clutched to her chest.

"Artemis?" she asked, as though daring not to trust her eyes.

Artemis waved a hand lamely, then quickly hid it behind her back. "Hi, Mom."

There was a moment where the two women – and Wally – simply stared at each other as though if they broke eye contact the illusion would disappear.

Paula gave an encouraging smile. "Would you like to come in? I was just making some tea."

"Sounds…great," Artemis said without a trace of a forced smile. Good old Mom. When in doubt, drink tea. Same as always. This fact warmed her heart to a forgotten degree.

Paula Crock emanated a balanced mixture of grace and fragility. Completely different from her daughter's healthy energy and lean arms and legs, bursting with power. Her wrinkled hands rested delicately in her lap as she sat before them with an imperious air. Two dark almond-shaped orbs flashed dangerously in Wally's direction, scanning him up and down for warning signs.

"And this is…?" she prompted.

"My ride," Artemis said brusquely.

Wally jerked a thumb at himself, grinning. "Kid Flash at your service, ma'am."

Paula's steeled grip caught him firmly in her hands to the point where he thought not even the Flash could vibrate his molecules out of there. Her nails, painted in chipped pale nail polish, dug slightly into his freckled skin. "Pleasure to meet you. I've seen much of you on TV. You are a lot taller in person."

Wally gave the customary heroic smile, wincing slightly from the pressure of her handshake. "Thank you, Mrs. Crock. And can I just say before your daughter tells you any bad stories, we have been showing her nothing absolute courtesy these past few weeks, more like a guest than a prisoner, I mean, even though that's technically –" Paula's eyebrow rose slowly. "I'm going to stop talking now."

Artemis rolled her eyes and shoved him towards the kitchen. "Why don't you just grab the tea, Kid Full-of-it."

" _Flash._ Kid  _Flash._ "

Paula watched their exchange with a hopeful glimmer in her eye. "Does this mean Artemis is a member of your team?"

Artemis unconsciously exchanged an awkward glance with Wally, who was watching her quite intently. "Not exactly," she said.

Her mother's face fell. "I see."

"That's actually kind of what I wanted to talk to you about." She took the seat beside her mother on the couch. "For starters, did you know about my alleged kidnapping?"

Paula nodded. "Jade came by to tell me."

"She did?! When?"

"A few days ago. She apologized for not coming to visit in a while and that you were in the custody of the Justice League, but you were safe and I shouldn't worry." Her eyebrows knitted with concern. "It was strange, even for your sister. Why, what's going on?"

Artemis bit her lip, thinking. Jade hadn't returned to this apartment in years. Why now? And how did she know that Artemis was safe? Sure, it wasn't the Justice League's style to torture, but assuming Jade knew about the hit…was this a warning?

She buried her face in her hands. "God...I'm so sorry, Mom. The last thing I wanted was for you to get dragged into this."

The wrinkled lines of worry increased on her mother's face. "It's your father." This wasn't a question. Suddenly Artemis saw an older Paula. The wear and tear of being a villainess and the stress that marrying Lawrence had put on her.

"Looks that way. We've got to move you somewhere safe, Mom."

"Why, you think I can't take care of myself?" Suddenly Artemis was on the receiving end of the same eye daggers she thought she had patented.

"No, no, of course not! It's just a precaution," Artemis took her mother's hands in her own. "I don't want you hurt. Not now, not ever."

Paula's face clouded over with indiscernible emotion. Unspoken reconciliation floated thickly in the air between them. Somehow her mother had always known Artemis was stumbling around trying to find her own path. No matter how many mistakes she had made, her mother was there. Waiting.

"Hey, is this Artemis's room?"

Artemis immediately sprang to her feet, their mommy-daughter moment forgotten. How could she have forgotten about the lurking speedster? She tried to wrench Wally away from the door. "Off limits, this is off limits!"

"Hold on, I'm not done. Is that a poster? Do you have an embarrassing boy band fan past I should know about?" He pushed back against her, still craning his head around the frame, scratching against the wall for the light switch like Indiana Jones reaching for the golden temple idol.

They continued the struggle match, fumbling like children, until she managed to wiggle in between him and door, placing her hands and feet in all four corners of the doorframe. "Tea. Go. Now."

Wally slumped off to the kitchen, pretending to pout, but she could see the edges of a mischievous smile on his face.

 _"You two seem close,"_  Paula whispered in low Vietnamese. Her eyes danced with laughter.

 _"Don't even start, Mom. He's an idiot,"_  Artemis replied. The rusty gears in her head churned out the slow Vietnamese carefully. Part of her relished being able to speak with her mother like this, even if it was about Wally.  _"I see you've kept my room. It looks the same as when I left."_

Wally came back with the kettle and carefully poured a cup for Paula, who accepted it with two grateful hands. She sipped at it serenely.  _"Some things change, but your home will always be the same. No matter where you go or what choices you make, this will always be your home. I thought you knew that."_

Artemis nodded briefly and turned to stare at the empty expanses of her old room. Hot tears nudged against her closed eyelids, but she wiped them away. She refused to cry in front of Wally, who had been watching the conversation like a tennis match, brow furrowed in confusion.

A small pinprick of red light within the dusty room caught her attention. It was brief and no more threatening than the light from an alarm clock, but it didn't belong. Artemis took a cautious step inside the room. The light blinked again. This time twice in a row. A quiet dread settled over her, but she took a hesitant third step.

The light burst with activity. The little red blinks sped faster until they matched Artemis's heartbeat.  _Bomb, bomb, it's a bomb, a bomb._  She whipped around, slammed the door closed, and sprinted for the living room.

"Artemis? What is it?" Paula asked with concern.

"Get down!" Artemis screeched. Wally leapt to his feet.

_BEEPBEEPBEEP, BOOM!_

Wood cracking, metal sizzling, glass shattering, hot cinders spraying through the air. It was all so familiar, and so horrifying.

Hours seemed to pass as she knelt there. Wally had moved just in time, as was his forte. They were huddled on the ground under the couch, which flipped over to create something like a tent above them. Paula had half-fallen from her chair, which had mercifully been spared. Her muscled arms were clamped around Artemis's middle while Wally shielded them both. Had they been in any other situation, she might have been distracted by Wally's arm pinning her firmly, or how after raising her head she found her face pressing into his collarbone. But even she had priorities.

In a tiny corner of her common sense, she wondered about the lack of fire alarms. Surely this would be the time for an orchestra of blaring screeches followed shortly by the fire department. But this was deliberate. The explosion had been small enough to cause destruction, but not enough to wipe out the whole building and all its inhabitants. It had been planned and executed with violent grace. It reeked of Shadows. Just as she had anticipated.

The floor stopped shaking and all that could be heard was the popping of fires and creaking of burned wood and metal slumping under fiery pressure. Ignoring Wally and Paula's protests, Artemis crawled out from under the couch. Sitting by and waiting to be swallowed wasn't her style. When she emerged, she found herself surrounded.

It was the flames. The same ones that had haunted her ever since the museum so long ago. Red and orange and white hot anger. They had come back for her. To wrap her in their scorching embrace, and let her exhausting days come to an end.

"Artemis!" Wally had seized both her shoulders and was shaking her rapidly. His electric green eyes bore into her with a serious gaze she had never seen on him before.

But she could hardly hear him or Paula over the rapid thudding of her heart and the blood coursing in her ears. Red and orange, fire, burning, everywhere. It was all too much.

Artemis sank to her knees. Tears crept into her eyes, whether from emotion or the smoke she didn't know.  _No. No more,_  she thought.  _Make it stop. I'm so tired._

Wally was standing now. He was yelling angrily into a communicator, but only getting static. "Frequency's been jammed," he grumbled. "And Miss Martian's out of range so telepathy's a no go." He swatted away a falling piece of ceiling tile from collapsing on their heads and pulled his Kid Flash hood over his head, snapping the goggles into place. "We're on our own."

 


	11. The Flames

Artemis had formulated a plan. A very clear plan. A simple plan.

Step one: Ditch the Justice League, junior or otherwise.

Step two: Get to her mother's apartment before Lawrence.

Step three: Confront Lawrence when he showed up.

Step four...

Fine, maybe there hadn't been a step four. She was still caught between passively returning to the team or heading for the hills, though neither were her style.

Standing there amidst the burning wreckage of her childhood home with Wally shaking her shoulders and her mother trying to gather the last precious belongings she had, Artemis wanted nothing more than to collapse in on herself. She could scarcely feel her limbs anymore. They were nothing more than phantom extensions swept away by the hot air and ash.

Exhausted. That was the word.

Wally had impressively taken charge of the situation. It was actually pretty manly of him. Was this really the silly, impulsive guy who used to storm out after trading childish insults with her?

On one of his many trips in and out of the apartment to check the other floors, he had paused to pull over the hood of her sweatshirt to protect her long blonde locks from being set ablaze. Which was...nice. Liking someone was a strange emotion, almost foreign. She wished very much to forget that recent revelation, but the words played over and over in her head like a scratched record.  _I like him, I like him, I like him._

She shook her head to clear the distracting clutter of emotional thoughts. Maybe if they got out of there alive she could readdress these thoughts. And hopefully he never had to find out the horrible things she was planning if either Sportsmaster or Jade showed their stupid faces.

In the distance she could see the tattered remains of Jade's poster. A few shreds of purple and yellow paper were still clinging to life on the scorched walls. The luminescent eyes of the Cheshire Cat were quickly eaten by the fire, but the imprint on Artemis's brain remained.

Could this really have been Jade's doing? Paula had said before the Jade had visited a few days ago. Ample time to plant an explosive. Escape with fire, end with fire. This had her sister written all over it. She hadn't miscalculated after all. Jade simply beat both her and Lawrence to the punch, assuming they weren't working together. No, Jade hated relying on the old man. She was always the type to solve her own problems.

But to detonate the explosion at the precise moment Artemis stepped into the bedroom...that was tricky. There were no pressure plates on the floor, no identification scanners, and on the off chance Paula went in the room it couldn't be automatic. Someone would have been lurking around, surveilling the building.

That was it. The way in. Find whoever had their finger on the button. That was how she'd get ahead of the game.

_Sorry, Jade,_ she thought.  _This won't be another of your games. And soon, you'll be playing mine._

* * *

Wally had firmly intended to lift his head and gaze out at a sea of wreckage, but to his surprise the building was merely on fire. The walls were mostly intact, the ceiling had scorch marks instead of holes, and he was still alive. So that meant one of two things. Either he was dead and dreaming, or it had been a controlled explosion. Very small, only meant to maim and not kill.

He understood. This wasn't the climax. This was the warning shot. Whoever had set the building to burn - his best guess was Sportsmaster - the message was clear:  _Back off._

But when had he ever done that?

Artemis was still quiet. Now that the initial shock had faded she was more focused. Eyes open, constantly searching, clicking away like a super computer.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Never better," she said in a deafened tone with no real emotion. But he could see through that. She had been shaken to her very foundations.

If they were anywhere else, if he could just be someone else, the only thing he wanted to do was wrap the stone-faced girl in his arms, stroke her hair, let her know that everything would be all right. But they weren't normal. Any relationship he ever hoped to have with this girl could never be normal.

Although if he ever hoped to have any kind of relationship with anyone the priority here was probably to escape the burning building.

The faintest idea of a plan seemed to snowball from there. Contrary to popular belief, fire escapes and extinguishers are sometimes more effective one might think. When he and the Flash were called on fire rescue jobs it was usually a matter of rescuing those trapped in inconvenient places. People stuck in their bathrooms, bedrooms, behind burning doors, trying to protect their children, and so on.

Still, there was only so long humans can last while inhaling smoke and God only knew what the shockwaves had done to the building's structural integrity, especially one in the bowels of Gotham. They had to act fast. And fast just happened to be his speciality.

A few laps through the building told him the only real damage had been to the top three floors. Every time he entered a new room he saw the signs of domestic living reduced to cinders. Blankets and clothes reduced to mere fibers, chairs and tables turned to kindling, wallpaper peeling from the walls like onion skin.

And the people. Families huddling together, children crying, mothers scrounging their last unscathed possessions, men and women watching as their sanctuaries turned to smoke. They weren't just rooms, these were people's homes. If Wally had believed in some omnipotent, godly higher power, he would have prayed that they caught the son of a bitch who did this.

On what felt like his hundredth trip he returned to the Crock apartment. Paula had gathered the children and neighbors in a room free from fire, soothing them with encouraging words, handing out rags to cover their mouths, and lining them up for Wally to pick up. She had a small arsenal of heavy blankets and fire extinguishers at her feet. Wally had to give her props; the fact that she was disabled melted in the face of her take-charge attitude. As expected from the woman who raised Artemis.

As though summoned by his thoughts, Artemis came back from kicking down doors with a few stragglers in tow. "That's the last of them," she said, hustling them forward. It had been tiresome work and breathable air was becoming scarce. They were pressed for time and they knew it. "I don't suppose those fancy superpowers of yours include flight?"

"Nope. Even running at my top speed, a drop from this height would turn me into speedster falafel."

"Nice image." She was still scanning the room and hallways. Her eyes practically jumped around in their sockets, restless and alert. Every flicker of light seemed to draw her attention.

Distracted was the word.

A thin bead of sweat rolled down Wally's forehead. His breathing was becoming shallow, a sensation he did not particularly enjoy. But it came at no surprise. Every journey up and down the stairs carrying people had whittled away at his stamina, calorie by calorie. Of all days to have skipped lunch. He thought wistfully of the triple decker sandwich he had stupidly left to wilt in the fridge.

Artemis noticed the exhaustion creeping up his face. She pulled him aside. "You're looking a little out of breath there, Speedy. Everything all right?"

"Don't call me that." He frowned. "I'm fine. Just a bit tired."

"Are you okay to carry the rest of us?" She looked back into the room. There were no fewer than ten people left.

Wally nodded and bumped himself in the chest a few times. "Of course! Who do you think I am?" He hoisted two kids under his arms, and sped off.

Heroes don't complain. Not when there are lives to save and a pretty girl to impress. It was time to strip off the reckless, impulsive Kid Flash and show off his mettle.

Every trip was more tiring than the last, but relentless energy seemed to stem from his very pores. He had always been more than willing to give his life for people, but his current motivation had a different flavor to it.

Everything's different when you have someone to fight for.

* * *

Though it felt like hours, the entire ordeal lasted no longer than five minutes. Considering Wally had been working mostly on his own to carry no fewer than twenty people of varying girths out of a burning building, they had made damn near miraculous time. Resting on the curb, his breathing had thinned and sweat pooled on his brow. It was a disgusting feeling he was not used to, but seeing the relieved smiles around him dulled the exhaustion to a mild irritation.

Paula finished consoling some of the more hysterical mothers and joined Wally on the sidelines. He had just finished wrapping yet another tearful thank you with another rescued civilian.

"Thank you, Kid Flash," she said, eyes trembling with emotion. "Truly. Thank you."

"Only doing my duty, Mrs. Crock." He threw in a salute for good measure.

She gazed out mournfully at the people still watching their homes vanish into flame. "So what happens now? These people...where will they go?"

"I wouldn't worry too much," he said reassuringly. "The team has got some friends in high places. They'll be taken care of."

"Really? Because we could've used some of your friends back there. Nice of them not to show, by the way." Artemis appeared from nowhere, one hip cocked and a shabby-looking recurve bow slung over shoulder and a handful of arrows in the wide pocket of her sweatshirt.

"How - Why are you  _armed?"_

Artemis rolled her eyes "In case we're attacked  _again,_ of course."

She waved a hand flippantly at their surroundings. "You forget I grew up here. Mom didn't allow weapons in the house so I snuck out to train. I've got old weapons hidden around everywhere. This one's in surprisingly good shape."

Wally started kneading his temples. "Batman is going to kill me."

"It's fine! Besides, what if Sportsmaster or Jade are still around? How am I supposed to defend these fine Gotham citizens?"

"Nope, can't risk it, gimme that." He made a grab for the bow.

She parried him away expertly, keeping one hand securely on the handle. "Just try it, I dare you."

"Oh, that sounds like a challenge."

"That's enough," Paula snapped. They stopped bickering immediately. Wally's spine straightened several degrees. "Artemis, don't make trouble. Kid Flash, she's right, where are your friends? Can you contact them?"

"My communicator's still disabled. I'd have to run all the way back to contact them. But it's fine, the fire department should be here any minute."

Artemis scoffed. "You've clearly never been to lower Gotham before." Then she stopped and smacked herself in the forehead. "Oh crap, that means the police will be coming! We need to leave. Now."

"What? Why?" He could understand her apprehension with law enforcement, but she hadn't done anything wrong. Right?

She lowered her voice to a secretive whisper. "They can't see my mom," she hissed. "If they take her in for questioning, she won't get out alive." Paula looked uncomfortable for a moment, but did not contribute. Her silence was confirmation enough.

"You really think something would happen to her?"

"This is the League of Shadows we're talking about here. If you don't think Ra's al Ghul has a man inside the oh-so-honorable Gotham PD, you are fooling yourself." Her fists clenched at the very thought. "Just go. Run back and get Batman to send the Bat Jet or something. We need to split before they arrive."

"But I can't leave you or your mom alone. You could both still be targeted."

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought being the fastest kid alive meant you could run to your hideout and back in, like, three seconds."

"Normally yes, but I'm out of fuel. I've only got one good trip left in me."

"Excuse me?" The fire in her eyes matched the ones streaming from the building behind them.

He immediately regretted his honesty. "Truth is, I kind of...forgot to eat today."

" _But you're always eating!"_

Hard to argue with that. "I've just had a lot on my mind, ok!" he spluttered.

"What does that have to do anything?!"

_Oops._ The conversation was taking a dangerous turn. Especially considering they were in front of her mom. "Look, we don't have time for this. The fire department will be here any minute and a potential madman is still on the loose. No offense." He added quickly.

Paula waved it off. There was no love lost between her and her estranged husband.

Artemis looked ready to sock him, but in a shocking moment of self control she took a deep breath and visibly swallowed her anger. "Fine. Since that's the situation, if you've got one trip left use it to get my mom out of here."

"Artemis!" Paula exclaimed.

"This is  _not_ up for discussion, Mom," Artemis said with finality.

"That's not a short trip while carrying someone," Wally warned her. "And I wouldn't be able to run back. Without our ship it would take at least five or ten minutes. If the police see you…"

"I've spent enough of my life running from the police. Ten minutes or ten days, it doesn't make a difference."

"But you might run off and then it'll be my fault for not watching you," he pointed out.

"Better run fast then."

"You're being unreasonable."

"You bet your speedy ass I am."

Paula looked suddenly uncomfortable standing between them and their crackling glares.

"I don't think -" Before he could finish, Artemis threw up a finger to stop him. "Did you hear something?" she hissed.

Wally and Paula craned their necks to hear the invisible sound and shook their heads.

"Oh." Her shoulders dropped and her hand slipped away from the bow handle. "Never mind."

Wally frowned with concern. "Are you okay? You look...distracted or something. What do you keep looking for?"

"It's called staying vigilant. Maybe you've heard of it."

When his eyebrows refused to unfurl, she punched him lightly in the shoulder. For once there was nothing vaguely threatening about the gesture. "Don't worry. I'm not running away." She patted her bow securely. "I'll be ready for anything."

But it was more than concern for her well-being. Something wasn't right. She was refusing to look him in the eye. That was unusual. Artemis was a very in-your-face person. All of their encounters had involved a stare down of some kind. In fact, he rather liked looking in her eyes. It made their squabbles enjoyable.

And why did she keep talking like the threat was still here? He half expected Sportsmaster to pop out from behind a dumpster from the way she was fidgeting. Her head twisted to jump at every shadow.

Then Wally's brain stopped churning. There was a possibility. A gloomy footnote lingering in the back of his brain. An unreasonable, unthinkable solution that he was afraid to voice aloud in case it became true.

But it made a horrible, terrifying amount of sense.

"Fine, I'll go," he relented. Relief became a bit too apparent on the her face. "But first...Artemis, can I talk to you for a second? Excuse us, Mrs. Crock." He pushed her into the nearby alleyway, far enough so they would not be overheard.

"What?" Artemis demanded.

"Sorry, but I have to ask." He curled his fingers to stop them from trembling. "Did you know?"

"Know what? I don't know what you're talking about." Artemis crossed her arms in front of her chest and kicked at a pebble. Unable to meet his eyes.

That was all the answer he needed.

"So you did." Anger colored his voice, seeping into his words.

"I'm sorry?"

"You knew he wasn't going to wait until tomorrow to strike. You knew he'd be monitoring the apartment, that he'd attack right away. You wanted to deal with him alone." Each accusation hurt more than the last, but they kept falling from his mouth like heavy anvils.

"You're cracked."

"No. I'm right. That's why you didn't want the League intervening, why you've been so distracted, why you found a freaking bow!" His volume grew louder with each syllable. "He taught you everything. You spent your life under command, studying his tactics. You know how he operates, and  _you knew_ something would happen!"

Artemis was quiet. But it didn't matter. He didn't need to hear the words. The guilt on her face was proof enough. But she spoke anyway, just to add another emotional punch to the gut.

"Doesn't matter, does it?" she said to the ground. "He's not here. No one is."

"You lied to us," he spit through gritted teeth.

"Barely."

"A lie of omission is still a lie, Artemis." He shook his head in disbelief. "If we had brought the team, we could've stopped this!"

"Well, how was I supposed to know he'd set fire to the damn building?!"

"But you knew he was going to try something, didn't you?"

She said nothing. She wouldn't look at him. Wally felt sick. All this time he had been defending her, caring for her, and for what? For her to throw his trust back into his face?

"And what exactly did you plan on doing if you'd found him?" He dared to ask.

"You don't want me to answer that." She whispered.

Wally wanted to sink to his knees right in the middle of that alley. His mouth felt dryer than it had back in the building. Instead he dug his fist into his forehead, kneading at the built up stress. "Goddammit, Artemis," he muttered. "How could you?"

She crossed her arms defensively. "It's  _my_ family, okay? This is my fight and mine alone."

Wally's head snapped up, raring to argue. "No, it's not! Not anymore. I told you I - we'd do anything to keep you and your mom safe."

"But it's not your problem!"

"Too bad! Because the minute you stepped into that museum, you  _made_  it our problem!"

"I never asked for this!"

"None of us did!"

"And I never asked for anyone to trust me!"

"But I do - I mean, I did! I trusted you! But now you don't want our trust, is that it?!"

"Maybe I don't!"

"That's stupid!"

They were running low both on breath and coherent arguments. If anyone had walked past them they would've seen a poorly disguised superhero yelling wildly at a furious girl in a tattered green sweatshirt who hadn't seen proper sunlight after weeks of the world's friendliest imprisonment. It was insane. He could've laughed uproariously and it would've been the least random thing to occur all day.

Wally could feel a tight muscle jumping in his forehead. He had never felt so frustrated in his life. It was enough to drive him mad.

But the absolute worst part was that even through the veil of red anger she was still so beautiful in his eyes. In the heat of their yelling they had drifted dangerously close together. Artemis was close enough to poke him in the chest to punctuate each sentence. At this distance he could drink in every detail.

Artemis was on the verge of tears. He could see them wavering in her eyes, though they would not fall. Anger was okay, yelling was fine, but tears would never fall. Not even for him, it seemed.

"You should've just left me alone." Her voice was thick and quivering.

Her skin was streaked with soot and sweat, the hems of her clothes were frayed and burned, her features were contorted in rage and desperation, and she had never looked so beautiful, so bursting with life and energy.

Wally could see the scene unfold in his head like a script.

He would take a step, then another, and another. She would mirror his steps backwards, trying to avoid him, but he would be an immovable stone wall. With nowhere to hide, trapped between him and the alley, she would have no choice but to meet his eyes. And the second he saw her storm-colored eyes peering into his, all self-control would be lost. He would lean in until the space between them shrunk from inches to millimeters, then meet his lips with hers. He would finally take the shot.

In a perfect world, they wouldn't be fighting at all. No lies, no anger, no good and evil.

But some things were only meant to exist in fantasy.

Police sirens began blaring in the distance, sending an electric shock through both their spines. The sounds were close. It was now or never.

_Take the shot, West,_  his brain insisted. Damn, damn male hormones.

But she took away the choice before he could make it. "You need to get going."

"No. I can't...I can't leave you here alone."  _Not now, not ever._

Artemis notched an arrow and pointed it directly at his nose. Wally took in a sharp breath, but didn't flinch. The alleyway was barely wide enough for her to stretch the bow back completely.

"There," she said. "Now I'm threatening you. Get my mom out of here or this arrow is going straight through your annoying face. And at this distance, I won't miss. Not this time."

Just like that the anger and lies came flooding through its broken dam. Their eyes were locked in a battle of willpower that rivaled the very flames they had crawled out of. But they both knew she was right.

Their moment was over. He couldn't forget the lies nor the betrayal. He and Artemis were two caustic chemicals, slowly seeping and blending together, about to set the lab table on fire. No matter how the very sight of her eyes drew him into the sinking whirlpools of emotion, it would never work. Never.

Wally balled his fists, driving the tips of his nails into his palms. "How do I know I can trust you?"

She adjusted her grip on the arrow. "I'm not giving you a choice."

Without another word, Wally turned on his heel and returned to Paula. Many of the residents had found cabs or friends and family. They were petering out one by one. Every irritated voice he could hear sounded disheartened by the city's slow response to their backwater neighborhood.

He scooped up the older woman and held her securely under the knees. His muscles were sore and complained at the strain. "Sorry about this, Mrs. Crock."

Paula clutched his shoulders with stubborn hands. "I heard you two arguing. Is everything okay? Should I be worried?"

"Everything's fine," he lied smoothly. "We were just disagreeing on how to handle getting you to safety."

She gifted him with a heartening smile. "Don't worry about Artemis. She won't run off. I trust her."

Wally nodded in reply and took a few running steps.  _If only it were that easy,_  he thought.

* * *

The alley was dead silent once Wally had left, but Artemis could still hear the last ringing syllables of their fight melting into echoes.

_Well done,_  she told herself.  _You really went all out this time. You should write a book. How to make the guy you like despise you._

Step one: Lie

Step two: Admit to thoughts of premeditated patricide.

Step three: Point an arrow in his face

Step four...

_Oh, forget it._

Artemis slid to the ground. Her back scraped against the grimy alley wall and her feet edged around the corners of a puddle. It didn't matter. The conditions of this alley weren't nearly as crappy as how she felt. She could still see his wounded face, his anger at being lied to, the hurt she had caused him.

Maybe she was dreaming, but for a moment Wally had looked like he wanted to... No. No, that was impossible. She was dumb for even thinking it.

It was humiliating. Had her guard slipped so much? If anything it was the son of a bitch speedster's fault. He had slipped right through her defenses and teased out emotions she had buried years ago. And now they would be buried again. Six hundred feet deep in a cast iron crate with barbed wire and explosives and sealed with magic.

_It's for the best,_  she thought.  _You never would've worked together. And if he felt anything before, it's gone now. You made damn sure of that._

Yes, the time for emotions had long passed. She pinched her cheeks to drive the focus back. What to do?

There were plenty of places to hide. Alleys, fire escapes, rooftops, the occasional construction site, once an abandoned elevator shaft. Years of high stakes hide-and-go-seek with police and local thugs had bred her for this. But the likelihood of Lawrence's men still lurking around was high. If he wanted to make his move, now was the time.

Frankly speaking, she couldn't have asked for a better situation. Her mother was out of the way, Wally was gone and literally couldn't come back, and she was armed.  _So why am I still here?_  she demanded of herself.

A high-pitched shriek shattered the air.

On reflex, she barreled out of the alley to the source of commotion. A woman was screaming and pointing to the building with a shaking finger.

"A-a-a child!" she stammered between choked sobs. "There's a child still inside!"

Artemis whipped around with the other bystanders. Her heart jumped right up her throat. Sure enough the small wavering form of a young boy could be seen through an open window on the fourth floor.

_How is that possible?!_  Artemis's thoughts sped around in her skull, bumping off each other in their haste.  _We cleared the building! Kid Flash...he checked every floor...I don't understand..._

She shook her head. No time for thoughts. Action. That's what was needed. They couldn't wait for the fire department any longer. She was going to play the hero even if it killed her.

Artemis seized someone's water bottle, ignoring their protests, and dumped the contents over her head. She tightened the cords of her sweatshirt to enclose her face and tugged down the sleeves to cover her fingers. Then, with a final breath to steady her nerves, she charged at the smoldering apartment building, breaking down the front door with a ferocious kick.

The second smoke hit her lungs she regretted it.

The stairwell was so dark she could hardly see her hands. Smoke was thickest in the closed space. She stumbled up to the fourth floor and rammed her shoulder into the door. It splintered open without much effort. She could see the kid still standing at the window, holding a winter comforter tightly over his head.

"C'mere," she said gruffly in lieu of comforting words.

The boy hesitantly complied, throwing himself into her arms and coughing violently. He looked up and noticed the bow slung along her back and the embroidered green arrow on her sweatshirt. "Are you a superhero like Green Arrow?" he asked hopefully.

Artemis smirked in spite of herself. "No, I'm way cooler than that guy. Now don't talk or you'll swallow ash."

"But what about the bad man?"

"What bad man?"

"The one who made me hide. Didja get him already? Didja?"

The air left her lungs in a whoosh. A cold sweat dampened the back of her neck. She could feel him. His presence hung thick in the air, causing the hair on her arms to stand up.

_Jade didn't set the bomb,_  she realized. A moment too late.

She whipped around to find Sportsmaster, standing amidst the flames in a fireproof suit. A mask with large muzzles to filter the air covered most of his face, but not the black glittering eyes that peered out malevolently at her. And he was blocking her only escape route.

Artemis was literally trapped in a hell of her own making.

"Hey, baby girl." The low distorted voice of her father leaked from the mask. That voice would torment her nightmares for years to come. Lawrence spread his arms. "Look at this. Father and daughter brought together for one last reunion."

"I knew you'd show," she whispered. Her lips cracked and bled in the poisonous air. "I knew it."

"You've always had a weak spot for kids. Didn't I say it'd be the end of you one day?"

He was just stalling. Biding his time until hers ran out. Neither her nor the kid had much time left. If he didn't kill them the smoke inhalation would.

Then again.

Maybe this was her chance. She could end the nightmare then and there. To finish her plan after all. One shot and it would all be over.

A squeeze on her hand snapped her back to her senses. She could feel the little boy clutching her hand, his tiny shoulders shaking with fear. This is how it felt, she realized. To literally hold an innocent life in your hand.

And she knew what to do.

Artemis smirked at her father. "One shot. Right?"

Before he could reply, she spun around, faced the broken window, and unsheathed her last zip line arrow. It was old and crude, but it would do the job. Her back muscles squeezed, the wire tensed against the arrow. Heat made the air waver and melt in her eyes. The longer she tried to keep her eyes open, the more they teared against the dark smoke.

In one sharp breath she let the arrow fly.

The shot was shaky at best. It lodged into the opposite building's window. A few screeches of surprise echoed from below. The police had finally arrived. They were yelling through megaphones. No time to think about them.

She grabbed the boy. "Hold on!" He clung around her stomach, latched on like a koala.

Using the bow as handlebars she lunged out the window. Her muscles screamed in abject agony. Lawrence's roar of rage followed her out, singing her back. But she didn't look back. Not one glance.

For a few ecstatic seconds she was in the air. Free.

Then the line lost slack. The wire shuddered and turned to a loose wave. Artemis's stomach plummeted. In the fraction of time that she was still weightless in the air she glanced behind her. Lawrence stood at the window, a shining knife in hand. His form was wreathed in flames. Then he turned away. He wasn't even going to watch.

By some miracle they were close enough to the ground to not be killed by the fall. It was a small mercy. She tucked the kid under her chin and angled herself last minute to fall on her back. Years of training responded in her bones to instinctively protect her head and spine. But it was only good in theory. On impact her head snapped back and smacked against the pavement. The boy's added weight nearly crushed her already smoke infested lungs. All breath left her body in one retched cough.

Outside on her back she could see the sky turning to a burnt red and orange sunset. Like the fire had leaked into the sky.

_Is it over?_ She wondered. Her skull throbbed as though being struck by dull lightning bolts.  _Did I win?_

Black night was seeping into the corners of her eyes, projecting a thin veil over her vision. She could hear running footsteps in the distance, voices clamoring around her, and a hundred pairs of arms pulling her to safety. A young voice cracking with tearful thank you's. The fine citizens of Gotham all gathered around, dying to shake her hand and wipe the soot from her cheeks.

If only the team could see her now. A godforsaken hero.

She had even had the opportunity to get rid of Sportsmaster once and for all. Lying right in front of her. And she willingly let it slip through her fingers. What was the world coming to?

Her last thoughts before losing consciousness were of them. Could they still be a real family? Artemis's eyes and ears closed off the sounds of chaos and fell to a graceful sleep.

So this is what being a hero felt like.


	12. The Resolve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Wow, part of me thought I’d never get this thing done. First of all, infinite apologies for the lateness of this chapter. A slight emotional lack of motivation thanks to "Endgame” and school craziness had a lot to do with that. But with summer comes writing! I’m resolved to complete this fic within the year, so thank you to the reviewers and supporters (especially geekdad and theravioliyoyo) for helping me pound this fic out.  
> Also, I heard your comments and so this chapter is shorter than the last one. Please continue to leave helpful requests about length and what not. Your feedback is very much appreciated.

Artemis was falling through a familiar nightmare.

Cheshire and Sportsmaster flitted in and out her dreams. Their faces were magnified a hundred times over, nightmarish and immense, threatening to squash her into a dark oblivion. Whenever she tried to close her eyes the bright, yellow flames leapt up to swallow her.

Daylight, when it came, was a maddeningly welcome sight. Sweat clung to her neck and the backs of her legs. Feeling flooded back to her limbs slowly with a grinding ache. Her hands were bound tightly, and she could feel the stiff white bandages scratching against the tender burn scars that snaked around her palms.

The biggest surprise was the change in environment. Her poor excuse for a prison cell had been replaced by a bedroom. One with butter yellow walls that absorbed the sunlight, and soft carpet floors. Her legs tangled in a deep olive bedspread. Somehow she’d been upgraded.

A dark head of hair rested in folded arms on the side of her bed. The sleeping form twitched slightly at Artemis’s movement.

The moment her mother lifted her head, Artemis felt eight years old again. Ignoring her aching body’s strains of protest, she collapsed into Paula’s thin shoulders, tears staining her mother’s threadbare cardigan, and, finally, they had the heart-to-heart Artemis had craved for years. 

She told her mother everything. The argument with Wally, the screaming tenants, the little boy in the fire, and Lawrence slicing the line and dropping Artemis to the ground. By the time she was done, the words had scratched raw and bloody scabs in her throat. Paula refilled her water glass twice and stroked Artemis’s hair until she was all tapped out of emotion.

And Artemis was finally able to voice the conclusion she’d made after days and days of thought.

“I’m done, Mom. I’m leaving the life,” she said with unwavering certainty. “For good.”

Paula’s eyes shimmered with joy. “Oh, Artemis, I can’t tell you how glad I am to hear that.” Almost ten years of anxiety built up behind the older woman’s brow were visibly melting into a of relief. “Does this mean you will join the team as well?”

Artemis took a deep breath. It was an awkward decision to phrase. Paula’s eyebrows rose inquisitively, causing Artemis to babble, which was not something she was prone to.

“Here’s the thing…” She could feel a wave of emotional babbling oncoming. “It’s irrelevant whether I _want_ to join, because they probably don’t even want me anymore. I mean, I lied about coming to see you earlier today because I thought Dad would show - which he did - and I was gonna - y’know what, it doesn’t even matter, the point is I lied and now they-!”

Paula laughed and clasped her daughter’s hands, lightly skimming her thumbs over the rough bandages. “Artemis, honey, slow down! Take a breath.” Artemis complied, sweating slightly. “I’m sure your friends will-”

“I didn’t say they were my friends.”

“Please don’t interrupt me, Artemis,” Paula said sternly. “Now, I’m sure _the team_ will understand if you simply explain what happened and apologize.”

She rolled her eyes. It wasn’t like they were children on the playground fighting over a sandcastle. “I think I’d rather jump out a second burning building.”

_“Artemis.”_

“All right, all right, fine.”

Paula reached up and cupped her cheek. “There’s my girl.”

Artemis smiled and leaned into her mother’s wrinkled hand. There was still so much to say. Words she was afraid to voice. But one thing was certain.

“I can’t be her anymore, Mom,” she whispered.

“Who?”

Artemis cleared her throbbing throat and spoke with unsteady assurance. “The old Artemis - the one who fought and killed on command, and never asked why. I wish I could lock her up and drop the key down a well, but it’s not that simple. I don’t think I can throw that part of myself away.”

“So don’t.” Paula said simply, like it was the easiest solution in the world. “Let the past go, and make a new future as yourself. Don’t let your father, your past, or anyone else tell you who to be. That’s all I ever wanted for you and for Jade.”

 _Jade._ She had nearly forgotten about the other bullet she had to deliver. “Listen, Mom, about Jade…”

But her mother cut her off with a squeeze around the shoulders. “I know,” Paula said softly. “That young man, Red Arrow, he told me what happened.”

“It’s Dad. He’s got her. I want to save her, I really do, but…” Artemis took a deep breath. “But, she betrayed me! She turned me in, tried to blow me up, and got caught anyway. After everything that’s happened, how can I rescue her when she never would’ve done the same for me?”

“She didn’t betray you.”

Artemis whipped around. It was Wally. He leaned against the open door, one foot placed forward as though he were testing the water temperature in a pool. 

A plethora of emotion coursed through her veins in a matter of seconds. Thoughts sped so fast through her brain she didn’t even notice the rest of the team filing into the room, all wearing grim expressions.

Artemis furiously wiped the tears from her eyes, deciding not to ask how much of her sob story she had heard. From the look on Miss Martian’s face, it was probably quite a lot. _Damn._  

“What are you talking about?” she asked.

“We weren’t supposed to tell you, but…” Miss Martian exchanged a look with Aqualad, who nodded briefly. “Under the circumstances, you can’t be left in the dark anymore.”

Robin tossed a manila folder on her bedspread. “Your sister came to us with this. It’s a comprehensive file about you, your family, your record, your position in the Shadows, everything.”

She seized the file and flipped through it. He was right. It read like a private investigator’s report, complete with candid pictures - her in costume, in civvies, even an old school photo - and a list of her weaponry, abilities, weaknesses, past assassination jobs, known aliases and addresses, and assessments.

Artemis’s hands shook with rage. “She sold me out,” she spat.

Miss Martian gently pried the file from her fingers and flipped to the back. The last two pages were reports with two stapled polaroids. One of Jade, and one of Lawrence. “She sold _herself,”_ she explained. “Sportsmaster as well.”

“But…” Artemis spluttered. “Why…why would she…”

Robin spoke next. “In exchange for this and other information, we had to kidnap you and…well…convert you. She said the method was up to us, as long as you no longer wanted anything to do with the Shadows. That day you faced us in the museum...Cheshire staged the whole thing.”

_The explosion. The fire. I’ve been living here for weeks and it’s all because…_

Miss Martian, her eyes slightly teary, added, “Her only condition was that we couldn’t tell you the truth. It was the only way. She said that if you hated her, there’d be less reason to go back. That you would join us just to spite her.”

Artemis was speechless. Her sister always understood her so well. She clutched at her bedspread with cold, shaking fingers. 

Paula picked up the file and scanned it with calculating eyes. When she spoke, it was with a businesslike tone. “Oh, Jade. Such a risky plan,” she murmured. “And the Justice League, your mentors, they were okay with this?”

“There was a lot of debate, but in the end they gave us the job,” said Robin. “They thought you might respond better to people your age.”

 _That_ burned an acidic hole in her stomach. To think that the rapport they’d been building with her had been nothing but a science experiment. On the orders of her sister, no less.

“Yeah? So I’m your charity case? A mission briefing from Batman?” She gave a short, mocking laugh. “In that case, job well done.”

Her bitterness bounced off them without any effect. They had been prepared for her reaction.

“We would not insult you by pretending otherwise,” said Aqualad stoutly. “But I think I speak for everyone when I say we no longer feel this way. You must know that we have discussed the matter at length amongst ourselves and our mentors.”

“And?”

“The offer still stands.”

Artemis laughed again. This time her voice was colored with pure, vindictive amusement. “You guys have got some real balls, I’ll give you that.”

“Look, we know your skills and you know ours,” said Robin, clearly impatient. “We all have the same goal and we can help each other. So just work with us!” 

“It’s not that simple,” Artemis restrained herself from calling him “kid.”

“Look, Artemis,” Wally spoke up  “All we’re trying to say is this. There’s a place for you on our team. If you want it.”

It took all Artemis had not to gape at him open-mouthed, stuttering like an infant. She hadn’t expected him to speak again, much less be the one to say she had a place. A place she belonged.

The ever-perceptive Miss Martian seemed to notice her discomfort. “I know this must be a lot to take in. Maybe we should give them some space?”

“Of course.” Aqualad inclined his head respectfully. “We shall be outside should you need us.”

As they turned to leave, an unholy, unwilling force took hold of Artemis’s voice and choked out a word. “Wait.”

The team stopped abruptly; Wally nearly crashed into Superboy in his haste to spin around. 

Aqualad’s sea foam green eyes peered into her, searching with unspoken questions. “Yes?”

 _Crap._ She hadn’t thought this all the way through. Artemis wracked her brain wildly for justification. In the end, she supposed, it all boiled down to one request. 

“Honestly, my sister...is a huge bitch,” she said, haltingly. Cue the raising of six sets of confused eyebrows. “But...I think I wanna save her anyway. Will you...will you help me?” 

The sentiment was so foreign, humiliatingly so, and the words left a sour aftertaste in her mouth. The positive glee on Miss Martian’s face and smugness on Robin’s, even more so. Wally’s mouth scrunched into something that could’ve been a thoughtful smile or a twisted smirk. Either way, Artemis wanted to wash their happy-looking eyes out with soap. She couldn’t stand that they were so pleased with her.

Aqualad stepped forward, his face more solemn than ever. “You have my word.” He swore.

Artemis nodded in reply. The second the door clicked behind them, her head hit the blankets with a soft _thwump._

“Well.” Paula tapped her fingers on her chair handles. “That was interesting.”

“Yup.”

“I notice you forgot to apologize.”

_“Mom.”_

 

* * *

 

After another emotional conversation with her mother and one criminally long nap, Artemis struggled. Being a functional human being was more tiresome than she remembered.

As another extension of amnesty, she had woken to find her uniform folded neatly on a chair beside her bed. All the tears had been sewed, the hems mended, and the bloody scrapes rubbed right out of the olive green spandex. She slid the fabric over her head where it settled in comfortably, squeezing around her waist like the embrace of a long-lost friend.

She had considered changing her look many times. Something a bit more somber and elegant than a green midriff bearing crop top and tight pants. But in the end she decided to keep this little part of her intact. Not everything had to change. Not yet. 

_Knock-knock-knock-knock._

The rapid-fire knuckles rapping on her door gave her a start, and she quickly wriggled on the rest of her clothes. “Yeah?” she called. 

She had been expecting her mother again, or maybe even Aqualad. Hell, she would have been less surprised to see Superman turn up at her door. But instead it was Wally West, wearing a frown 

“Hey.” Her voice cracked in the single syllable.

"Hey,” he replied. 

The awkward tension was palpable. The kind of awkward that made you want to run headlong through a plate glass door rather than spend two more seconds in the room. Wally wasn’t helping the situation either by avoiding eye contact so fiercely he could’ve burned a hole into the wall behind her.

Thankfully, Artemis’s frustration of men and their pride was enough to make her break the silence first. “So…still mad?”

There were gaunt circles under his eyes when he turned his head to meet hers. “What do you think?”

Her chest flared with pain. Whether it was from the fire she’d fallen out of or his words, she couldn’t tell. Which reminded her of an important question. “I forgot to ask earlier, but…the people from before. Are they-?”

“They’re fine. You saved them.”

Artemis released a short breath of relief and sank onto the bedspread. A few bone wracking coughs overcame her. But the pain was worth it after all. She had saved them.

Finally deciding he wasn’t getting anywhere by standing in the doorway, Wally crossed to the dresser and handed her the water glass. She accepted gratefully, barely breathing between gulps. The back of her throat still felt like the inside of a chimney.

Wally studied her closely while she drank. “I don’t get you,” he said, looking like a volcano on the verge of erupting. “I don’t get you one bit.”

She wiped her mouth on the back of her hand. “Why?”

He paced around the room, unable to keep his legs still. “You say you’re done with the Shadows. You say you wanna help your sister. You have moments where...I don’t know, it feels like we’re friends o-or the closest thing to it. And then you lie, you go off on your own, you point an arrow in my face.” She winced. He just had to bring that up, didn’t he? “I mean, what am I supposed to think?”

Artemis bit her lip. Was there an answer for that question? She could only think of answers that started with the word “not.”

Not to think of her as a villain. Not as someone untrustworthy. Not as an enemy. As a friend. For starters. The thought of being something more made her toes curl with embarrassment. Undoing the knots she had tangled would take time. A relationship like theirs required rebuilding, emotional brick by brick. Word by word.

So she told what he rightly deserved to hear. “I’m sorry.”

Wally’s eyes widened. “And now you’re apologizing?” He shook his head in disbelief. “Superboy was right; you’re definitely a clone.”

“A clone?” She laughed through the subsequent coughs that made her skull rattle.

“Believe me, it’s not as farfetched as you might think.” Wally caught himself about to smile in return and stretched his arms behind his head, turning his gaze to the ceiling. “Apology half-accepted.”

“Half-accepted?”

“Yeah. Don’t get the wrong impression here. I’m still mad at you.”

Artemis rolled her eyes. Of all the thickheaded, idiotic morons in the world, she was stuck with this one.

“But since we have to work together now, I’m putting half of that anger aside. Y’know, for the team.”

“Right. For the team.” Artemis swallowed a sigh. “So it’s really decided then? You’re going to help me bring back Cheshire?”

“Aqualad gave you his word, didn’t he? He’s our leader. We follow his lead. Besides, we’re superheroes. We save everyone; bad or good. It’s kind of our job.” There was so much pride in his voice when he said that. She could respect that. She understood it. “Although Batman did say that, rather than saving her, we’re giving Cheshire a running head start.” 

Artemis smirked. “You guys are way too trusting.”

“If it makes you feel better, we also have very specific instructions to neutralize both of you if anything goes wrong,” he replied flippantly.

There it was again. His unflinching honesty. She hated how much she liked him for that. “I know that _shouldn’t_ make me feel better, but I totally do.”

His mouth quirked up at that. It disappeared as quickly as it had come, but she spied the hint of genuine pleasure. It felt good to banter threateningly with him again. 

However, the mood was dangerously close to feeling friendly, which was apparently his cue to leave. Wally abruptly began to cross the room. “Well, I’ll let you finish changing,” he said uncomfortably. Never mind that she had nothing left to put on.

“Hey, Kid Flash,” Artemis called after him.

Wally spun around, almost tripping over his own boots. The appropriate usage of his codename felt unnatural after all the variants she’d come up with. “Yeah?”

“Told you I wouldn’t run away.”

Wally turned his head to hide the smile that crept on his lips. “I guess you didn’t.”

* * *

 

Before the afternoon was up, Artemis found herself back in the control room. This time not as a prisoner, but as an ally.

Batman stood before the holographic screen while Robin worked the keyboard. Two files of Cheshire and Sportsmaster were open. Her sister’s mug shot was sneering through the grainy texturing, one eyebrow half-cocked as though daring the photographer to come chase her.

Artemis stood next to Miss Martian, who greeted her with a smile. Feeling confident in their partial reconciliation, she glanced over at Wally, who caught her gaze and promptly threw it away, angling his shoulders to appear as though he was in deep conversation with Superboy. The stubborn, little –

“As of this morning, one of our contacts within the League has informed us that Sportsmaster was fired from the Shadows’ employ.” Batman reported.

“What contact?” Artemis asked. She wondered which of her former colleagues was selling out to the Justice League. Other than her sister. That particular factoid continued to swim around her brain as a constant, burning reminder.

Batman dismissed her question with a warning side-eye. “That’s confidential. They’ve recently contracted a new enforcer. A man named Deathstroke.”

Artemis had heard of him. His lethal assassination skills - not to mention prodigious ponytail - were well known within villainous circles. But if Sportsmaster was no longer the Shadows’ lapdog...

“Meaning there’s nothing to hold Sportsmaster back from coming after all of us,” Robin translated. “His appearance yesterday is probably what cost him the job in the first place.” He turned to Artemis. “Does that sound about right?”

Artemis was startled to be asked for her opinion. “The Shadows know his motivations weren’t in their interest. He’s made this personal, and that makes him a liability.” She gritted her teeth. “To them he’s officially a loose cannon. And the Shadows don’t want to be held responsible for anymore grand property damage.” The media was already twisting the explosion with rumors of terrorism or gang wars blown out of proportion. Ra’s al Ghul might be an immortal terrorist, but he wasn’t about to take the heat for hits he didn’t order.

Batman nodded gravely. “That’s why I’m sending the team - and Artemis - to take him out before he does any more damage.”

“Take him out as in –?” Artemis made a throat squeezing gesture with her hands.

The team gaped at her, dumbstruck. Red Arrow looked outraged. Wally rolled his eyes and mumbled something that sounded like “trigger-happy.”

Robin clapped a hand on her shoulder. “You’ve got a lot to learn about being one of the good guys.”

 _Whoops._ It probably would’ve been better to play that off as a joke. She shrugged off Robin’s hand. “Whatever. As long as I get to shoot him.”

Batman was inscrutable as always, but she could have sworn an extra layer of menacing had been added to his demeanor.

“At the moment, the Justice League is preoccupied with an off-planet threat.” A video clip of several Leaguers in space suits and extraterrestrials furiously blasting each other with lasers appeared on screen to prove the point. Artemis could see the team fidgeting enviously at the thought of an off-world assignment. “This is a _stealth_ mission. Your orders are to rescue the hostage, Jade Nguyen, and – if necessary – stall Sportsmaster until the Justice League can take him into custody. Nothing more.”

 _And if the job requires me to shoot Sportsmaster full of holes, so be it._ Artemis finished in her head. She probably ought to be more frightened of the man who was so hell-bent on murdering her. But that fire had lit a flame of rage inside her. No one threatened her family. Not even her family.

 “Red Arrow will be accompanying you on the mission,” Batman continued. The angry redhead in question stepped forward when he heard his name. “He’s offered to oversee the retrieval of Cheshire and to be an unbiased observer.”

It wrinkled Artemis’s nerves to have a babysitter, and for once it looked like the team was on the same wavelength. Robin, Wally, and Superboy were outright frowning whereas Miss Martian and Aqualad were merely concerned. A friend was a friend until they’re assigned as watchdog for the potentially sociopathic chick. 

Only Miss Martian decided to go for the positive spin. “So,” she said with a cheerful lilt. “Does this mean it’s official? Is Artemis joining the team?”

All eyes turned to Artemis. She tightened her fists to quench the sweat gathering in her palms. There was no point building up her defenses anymore. Now or never. Once answered, she couldn’t take the words back. But, as she was beginning to realize, she didn’t want to.

“If you’ll take me.”

A collective whoosh of relief seemed to be released around the room. Miss Martian’s cheeks strained from trying to repress the ecstatic smile blooming on her lips.

Batman immediately got down to business. “In that case, Artemis is on probation for now. That means no zeta access, no solo missions, and no being left unaccompanied. Do not share personal information. No addresses or family members or classmates.”

“Um, speaking of personal information,” Robin interrupted. The others seemed shocked at his audacity to cut through his mentor’s speech. Artemis almost wanted to applaud him just for being a little shit towards Batman. “Can we at least do a round of names? For the sake of team cohesion and whatnot.”

“Yes!” Miss Martian immediately sprang to the forefront with a friendly hand extended. “You can call me M’gann. M’gann M’orzz.” She pushed Superboy forward. “And this is Conner Kent.”

“Call me Superboy,” he grunted.

Artemis awkwardly shook both their hands. “Nice to, er, meet you. Again. I guess.”

Aqualad stepped forward next. “And I am Kaldur’ahm. Kaldur, if you wish.”

She returned his genial smile. “Kaldur. I like that.”

“Aaaand that’s all for now.” Robin said.

“What? I don’t get to learn your name or Kid Moron’s? But how will I ever get his name right?” she exclaimed, all the while thinking, “ _Wally, Wally, Wallace West, ha!”_ It was still funny.

“You can start by calling me Kid _Flash_ ,” Wally grumbled.

“Robin and Kid Flash maintain civilian identities. As such, their real names are protected.” Aqualad explained.

“Don’t feel bad,” said M’gann sympathetically. “None of us know Robin’s real name.”

“Except me, of course.” Wally boasted.

“If you’re done introducing yourselves,” Batman broke in. Artemis’s shoulders quaked with restrained laughter at the sight of Wally visibly shrinking in the Dark Knight’s presence.

Batman continued to rattle off a list of regulations, but Artemis couldn’t hear him. All she could see were the team’s friendly faces. The faces of her new teammates.

“What do you say, Artemis? Are you with us?”

She gazed out at their encouraging smiles, then down at the bandages draped around her hands. The old Artemis would have ran as fast as her legs could carry, but not this new Artemis, reborn in fire. New Artemis’s resolve was ice and steel.

“I’m in.”


	13. The New Team

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: It's been almost a year, but TOS is coming to a close. Depending on how I space out the finale there should be 2-3 chapters left. Hope you stick around to see it through, and thanks for reading. As this fic ramps up towards the end, please leave your feedback. It always helps to know what you did or didn't find enjoyable, or what you wish you could've seen. R&R always appreciated.

 Traveling with the team in the bioship was the awkward family road trip she’d never had.

Wally sat in stony silence, mirroring Superboy, who Artemis was quickly realizing suffered from perpetual grumpiness. Across the ship, Robin would crack a corny joke every once in awhile; Aqualad simply observed the atmosphere, clearly on guard for the first sign of violent tension; and M’gann laughed politely at Robin’s jokes.

After some time, Red Arrow - better known as Roy since he had unwillingly introduced himself - insisted on describing each trick arrow and explaining their uses. It was a useless endeavor. Artemis had been engineering her own arrows since she was old enough to tie her own shoes and could recognize them on sight. But it was better than staring at her shoes and hoping to sink through the floor.

“Net arrow, rocket arrow, foam arrow - in case you need a soft landing," he listed. "This one's a flash bomb-”

“Oh goody, your favorite,” Wally grumbled from the seat in front of her.

Artemis placed her foot on the back of his chair, creating inescapable pressure on his back. “Not still holding a grudge, are we?”

He pushed her foot away. “Remember that time you kicked me in the face? Because I sure do.”

 _Someone woke up on the wrong side of the coffin._ Artemis bit her lip and motioned for Roy to continue. His voice felt far off now, less important. 

Wally had become distant since their earlier truce. One moment they were okay, and the next he was shoving past her on his way out of the kitchen, nearly knocking her into Robin, who she'd been having a perfectly pleasant conversation with. The weirdly mature Boy Wonder had advised her to let his anger run its course, comparing Wally to a petulant child, but she couldn't ignore the sharp sting in her chest at the thought of him not forgiving her.

 _“You okay?”_ M'gann's voice echoed softly in her head.

Artemis choked down a gasp. _“Woah. I am never getting used to that.”_ Experimentally, she tapped the side of her head as though trying to knock water from her ear.

The Martian giggled. _“That's what everyone says at first. But it's become so useful we're never not using it.”_

_“So I've noticed. And yes, thank you, but I'm fine.”_

_“Really…”_ she mused. _“Because I could've sworn I just saw you and Kid Flash-”_

 _“It's nothing,”_ Artemis cut her off. _“We're in the middle of a slight disagreement, apparently. I thought we were getting along, but…whatever. I don't care.”_

_"Do you want to talk about it?"_

_"No."_

_"Artemis,"_ she said, patiently. _"Believe it or not, I know a little something about boys with anger management issues."_

Artemis chanced a glance over her shoulder at the pilot’s seat. M’gann’s gaze flickered briefly over at Superboy across the ship, then returned to the archer with a shy smile. They were a couple, she realized, and an interesting one at that. A Martian and a Kryptonian both trying to fit in on Earth. It chimed together perfectly.

She nodded in understanding. _“You make a cute couple.”_

 _“Thanks. It took a while for us to get together, but I wore him down eventually.”_ She chuckled warmly. _“Look, I know Kid Flash can come on a bit strong, but give him time. He’ll cool down.”_

 _“It was my fault.”_ The words tumbled out before she could stop them. That was the downside to speaking telepathically. Thoughts were a lot harder to bite back. _“I lied to him - to all of you.”_

_“We know.”_

_“And you’re not angry with me?”_

_“You’re not the only one on this team with secrets.”_ M’gann said dolefully. _“If we kicked people out for lying or acting out of turn, most of us would be long gone by now. I know you were just trying to protect your family. I mean, your actions were...well, questionable, but your heart was in the right place. I'm sure Wally will see that.”_

_“Maybe.”_

_“Don’t think badly of him. Accepting you was a big deal. I think the two of you are pretty similar in that way.”_

Artemis scoffed. Red Arrow glared questioningly at her, then continued his arrow presentation. _“How so?”_

 _“Well, you crossing sides means you have to force yourself to act against everything you used to believe in,”_ she explained. _“Same with Wally. He used to see good and evil as black and white. Meeting you changed all that. And, if you don’t mind the assumption, meeting us probably changed you as well.”_

Artemis shifted in her chair. It was hard to think of them as similar, and it was even harder to think she had really caused such an upheaval in his morality. Because that would mean she had an emotional impact on him. It was hard to picture, given his current mood.

She shook her head. _“Don’t think because you’re so understanding and all...it doesn’t mean you_ know _me.”_

 _“Of course not.”_ She could practically hear the sing-song in the Martian’s voice.

 _“I just want us to get along. Because, y’know, we’re going to be teammates and stuff. No other reason.”_ Yeah, that sounded casual enough. _“Also, could you not tell the guys about this?”_

 _“My lips are sealed.”_ M’gann mimed locking her lips and tossing away the key. Not that it mattered. Even without the mind link, the girl saw right through her intentions. And Artemis realized she didn’t much care how transparent she was being. She truly wanted to find a friend, a confidant in the Martian.

_“I wonder if we just violated my probation by sharing personal information.”_

_“Probably.”_

The two girls shared a glance, and then collapsed into simultaneous laughter. Artemis's throaty chuckle rang together with M'gann's delighted giggle. The boys' heads spun around so fast Wally rubbed his neck, checking for whiplash. Not only had it been so randomly sudden, but none of the boys had ever seen Artemis laugh before. They had not even thought her capable.

"What's so funny?" Robin asked warily.

"Nothing." M'gann shared a conspiratorial smile. "Just a little girl talk."

“Well, you can stow it for now,” Roy swung his quiver around his back. “We’re here.”

* * *

 

The gymnasium where Artemis used to train with her father had been abandoned for years. The money had dried up and there were rumors that the gym had been on the paygrade of a certain foreign terrorist syndicate for smuggling and training recruits. They weren’t wrong. The Shadows had been using the building for years. A certain anonymous tip call - reported to having come from a certain young girl - had ratted out the owner and the building was condemned. All because Artemis had wanted to get back at Lawrence for driving her mother out of the house.

The team perched themselves in the trees, watching the building through binoculars. Miss Martian had been sent as an advance guard to survey the gym and they waited anxiously for her report. It was boring work. Artemis had to stop her leg from jittering and shaking the tree branch she had nestled on.

She checked her watch. Almost eight. The sun had settled and sunset was already fading into night. They needed to move before it turned completely dark. Shadows moved best in the twilight.

After what felt like hours, M’gann’s voice materialized in their heads. _“I count maybe twenty men,”_ she said. _“All of them armed; guns, standard ammunition, and stun batons.”_

Artemis’s eyebrows knitted with confusion. Twenty men outfitted with average ammo. Somehow that didn’t sound like the Shadows she had grown up with. _“Miss Martian?”_ Artemis said. _“Are you sure about those guys? Did you see anyone who looks like they’re auditioning for a Jackie Chan kung-fu movie?”_

_“What? I don’t -”_

_“Ninjas, M’gann,”_ Robin translated. _“Did you see any ninjas?”_

_“Oh, no. Just normal bodyguard clothes and some army fatigues.”_

Artemis smirked. _“That means they’re all hired guns. He really_ has _been exiled from the League of Shadows.”_

 _“You sure?”_ asked Red Arrow with a tinge of doubt.

 _“I’ve seen this before. He must’ve scrounged the bottom of the mercenary barrel. Ex-cops, ex-military, foreign mercenaries, the works. Whoever he’s got, they won’t be members of the Shadows.”_ They got lucky, that’s for sure. Men of the Shadows were not simple servants of greed. They were warriors of belief. And there was nothing more dangerous than someone who believed in their cause so much they were willing to die for it. _“That should make this easier. They’ll be less coordinated and easier to neutralize.”_ She twanged the line of her bow for emphasis.

Wally gave an affected shiver. _“Why do I get the feeling when you say ‘neutralize’ you really mean ‘kill everyone?’”_

 _“Any sign of Sportsmaster?”_ Aqualad interrupted before Artemis could reply.

_“Not yet.”_

_“All right. Remain out of sight until Robin disables the cameras.”_ He turned to Robin. “Have you located the signal?”

“Working on it,” Robin had his tongue between his teeths, typing furiously at a holographic keyboard.

Back to waiting again. Artemis started thumbing a spare arrowhead. This was the pits. “So. How are we getting in?” she asked.

“We will wait for the cameras to be deactivated,” Aqualad replied evenly. “Once we have secured the frequency, Kid Flash and Miss Martian will take out the perimeter guards. We will provide back-up if needed.”

She groaned. “You mean we’re not even going to create a distraction or blow the entrance up or something?”

Her question was met by a chorus of gawking stares.

“You’re thinking too much like a bad guy there, Artemis. Explosions equal casualties.” Robin said with a touch of laughter in his voice. “Besides, we’re a covert ops team. That means less exploding and more sneaking.”

“Seriously?” Her shoulders slumped.

“Well, we _try_ to stay covert. It doesn’t _always_ work out that way,” Wally admitted.

“You mean, never. Never works out that way.”

“Shut up and disable those cameras.”

Artemis didn’t say it, but she was certainly hoping for a bit of unplanned action. Anything was better than sitting around in a tree.

“There!” Robin hit the last keystroke with a little flourish. “Cameras are down, Aqualad.”

At once, two of the guards lazing around the front entrance were struck from behind and collapsed simultaneously. The invisible Miss Martian became visible once more. _Two down,_ she chirped.

Artemis could have kissed them both. The gods of laziness were surely looking down on her tonight. Hopefully, fortune wasn’t far behind. They would need all the luck they could get.

“Robin, Kid Flash, you’re up,” said Aqualad.

When they turned their heads, Robin had already disappeared. Only the echoes of high-pitched cackling had been left in his wake.

Artemis was nonplussed. “Where did he-?”

Wally shook his head disparagingly. “He does that,” he said, and then took off in a blazing dark blur. 

* * *

 

After receiving the all clear, Artemis found herself slinking down corridors in a pack, checking around corners, quietly bringing down the men, and all the while communicating silently in their heads.

True to her prediction, the men were uncoordinated and otherwise hopeless against a pack of super teens. Like children with no other course of action, they kept trying to call for help on their radios without realizing the signal was down. Artemis had already knocked out three guys mid-radio with no small amount of satisfaction. 

Artemis marvelled at the fluidity of teamwork. It was a dance, both choreographed and improvised, and all happening in a split second. Each move was set to exploit the team member’s specialties. M’gann and Robin were stealthy, they were the infiltrators; she and Red Arrow were snipers; Aqualad and Superboy were the heavy hitters; Kid Flash was a kind of all-purpose scrapper, blazing through one room and onto the next.

 _“Gotta say, I’m liking this teamwork thing. It’s weirdly efficient,”_ she mused aloud while elbowing a mercenary squarely in the ribs. 

Aqualad whipped the man she had just deflected into the opposing wall. _“Working in a team is about utilizing each person’s strengths to our advantage,”_ he explained. His tone had hardened for duty. It was dictatorial and decisive in a way that filled her with confidence.

_“You must be a pretty good leader to keep these weirdoes in line.”_

_“Hey!”_ Robin protested at the same time that Wally exclaimed, _“I resent that!”_

Roy swung around to glare witheringly at her. _“Did you forget we’re all mentally linked?”_

 _“Nope,”_ she sang sweetly. 

M’gann giggled as she flew overhead and even Superboy cracked a gruff smirk. Artemis felt her face flush with excitement. Was this how it always was? Making strategies, asking for opinions, and cracking jokes even in the most dire of situations? The last time she'd had a calm group discussion with a team of Shadows, one of them had ended up impaled on an overgrown tree root.

This was better, infinitely better, and she loved every second of it.

The two men they had just leveled managed to pick themselves up and were attempting a retreat. M’gann shot a blast of black telekinetic energy at the one, levitating him up in the air, but she couldn’t reach the second, who was unsnapping his holster. 

On instinct, Artemis nocked an arrow and stood poised to let it fly. But before the shaft could slip from her fingers, Aqualad’s tattooed arm impeded her aim. He had come to stand firmly in front of her. Before she could bluster a curse, a streak of crackling energy whizzed past them both and shoulder slammed the assailant into the wall, which cracked from the force. 

Wally twirled the man’s gun around his finger and swiftly disarmed it. “All right there, Megalicious?” he asked with an eyebrow raise.

“I’m fine. Thanks for the save." She promptly dropped the floating man on top of his companion, where they both collapsed out cold.

Artemis was peeved. For multiple reasons. She glanced up at Aqualad, irritation burning in her eye sockets. “The hell? I could’ve taken that guy myself,” she grumbled.

Aqualad jerked his chin at her arrow, still poised to be shot. She took another look at her aim. If the man had been standing in the exact place Wally had slammed into him, her arrow would’ve flown straight and true. Right through the man’s jugular.

The color drained from Artemis’s face. She hadn’t meant - it was just - _oh, no._ She hoped Aqualad wouldn’t dock points from her probation test or anything. But if he was disappointed or angry, he did not show it. The team leader’s face was passive and understanding. They both seemed to understand breaking _that_ particular habit would take more than a few missions.

She hastily shoved the arrow back into her quiver before anyone else could notice and gave a mumbled, “Thanks.”

He inclined his head silently and motioned for her to continue down the hall.

But their moment of shared understanding was shattered by an ear-splitting screech, like a fire alarm and ambulance siren had merged into one hellish tone. The team’s hearts collectively filled with dread. In the floors above and below, the slamming of doors and shouting of men organizing themselves echoed through the din. 

“We’ve been made,” Roy spat. “Must’ve tripped the silent alarm.”

Aqualad nodded and withdrew his watery maces. “Time for plan B.” The rest of the team likewise took up ready positions, their ears pricked for the smallest sound of an attack.

Artemis looked around wildly, unsure of the sudden protocol. “Plan B? There’s a plan B?” she demanded.

Superboy cracked his knuckles with a sound like snapping metal rods. “Punch everything that moves.”

As he spoke, the team was flanked on both sides by two separate groups of guards, all dressed in varying uniforms and drawing their weapons.

Artemis’s lips slowly spread in an almost feral grin. “Now we’re talking.”

* * *

 

Wally West was afraid of two things that day. Funnily enough, neither included the armed guards who were being paid to treat the team like a carnival shooting gallery of wooden ducks. 

The first was obligatory; the ever present fear that the hostage they’d been sent to rescue was in mortal danger and they had stumbled into a trap for nothing, never to see the light of day. But he had faith in himself and his teammates so it wasn’t anything to curl up and scream about. 

The second fear, however, was speeding headlong into battle, unleashing a one-woman hell. Artemis’s eagerness was borderline bloodlust, which was alarming, and the number of times she had forcibly prevented herself from dealing a fatal blow was downright bone-chilling. 

He wouldn’t admit that he had been keeping her fixed in the corner of his eye, but clearly it paid off when he had swooped in to save M’gann before she could. It was getting to the point where he flinched every time she loosed an arrow.

It was all. So. Annoying.

He and Artemis had issues, fine, whatever. They were simply travelling on two different subway trains headed in the same direction, and neither could agree which station to hop off at. Every time the opportunity for reconciliation presented itself, they wrapped themselves in a shell of pride and stubbornness, and refused to come out.

 _“Wally! Could use some - ugh - back up over here!”_ grunted Conner.

Wally’s shoes screeched on the shiny linoleum, nearly ramming him headlong into a wall. While he had been wrapped up in thinking of metaphors for his relationship with Artemis he had bypassed his battling teammates and skidded to a halt in an empty basketball court. How did he actually manage to lose track of his entire team? He immediately sped back towards the fray, hoping against hope no one had noticed his absence.

Artemis and Conner stood back-to-back in the middle of a weight room. Their adversaries were ducking behind ellipticals and bench presses, practically cowering in fear. Because Conner was in his element, hurling triple digit weights like pebbles and smashing up the floor. Artemis kneeled behind a tower of hand weights and fired arrow after arrow at their feet. They made an annoyingly effective team.

Soon, however, Conner ran out of heavy things to throw and the enemy was advancing. Wally offered some assistance by picking off the ones toward the back, but couldn’t reach them all. 

Artemis decided to ditch her cover and nudged Conner with her elbow. “Give me a lift, big guy.”

He nodded and knitted his fingers together for a cheerleader step, which Artemis sprung from after a running start. Practically suspended in the air, she plunged her foot right into the face of the nearest target and used the momentum to spring back and fire two arrows into a fire extinguisher on the back wall, which exploded all over a guard.

Wally used the distraction to punch out the random henchman he was holding by the collar. He glanced warily at her. “You really like kicking people in the face, don’t you?”

“Gotta channel that anger somehow, right?” she winked at Conner, who shot her a genuine smirk.

Wally pretended that wasn’t the reason his fist whipped around to clothesline the final charging guard with what some could describe as excessive force.

* * *

 

The three of them jogged back to rejoin the team. The crowd of hired men had thinned dramatically, but they were still no closer to finding Cheshire. It was only a matter of time before Sportsmaster himself came thundering down the halls, and Wally was _not_ interested in dealing with that guy.

“Split up,” Kaldur ordered. “Our prerogative is the hostage. This is still a search and rescue mission. M’gann, find where they are holding her. Superboy, clear her a path. Robin, find a security room and rid us of these alarms. We can only hope there are no more reinforcements. Red Arrow and I will take the south side. Kid Flash, go north. And take Artemis with you,” he added after a beat.

Wally groaned. Artemis’s lip curled so deep her mouth nearly disappeared. 

“I do _not_ need a babysitter,” she protested.

 _Well, I don’t need someone who can’t run at the speed of sound slowing me down,_ Wally wanted to shoot back. But, in a shocking moment of maturity, he kept his mouth shut. He wished he could rub his self-restraint in her face.

"You're under probation,” said Roy with another custom-fitted glare. “You want to be the one who disobeys Batman?" 

"Can't I go with M'gann?” She jerked her thumb at Wally. “This one only trusts me about as far as he can throw me.”

"Which is to say, not at all?" Rob chimed in unhelpfully.

"Exactly," she said, favoring the Boy Wonder with a conspiratorial smirk. 

Wally rolled his eyes to the ceiling. "Please stop getting along."

Kaldur massaged the dark, wrinkled skin between his eyebrows. “Enough. We are wasting time. You have your assignments, now go.”

“Yessir.” Wally started jogging towards the north entrance. 

It was weird to run at such a slow pace. His legs itched with impatience, mostly to get run away from the awkwardness. It wasn’t that he disliked fighting alongside Artemis; it was a nice change from fighting _with_ her. But not now. Not when he was this inexplicably moody.

“So what happens if we run into my dad?” Artemis asked between huffs.

Wally realized she was exerting twice as much effort as him just to keep up. He gradually slowed his pace. “Easy. If we see Sportsmaster, we’ll just run the opposite direction.”

She frowned. “That’s not funny."

 _“I_ thought it was.”

“Can you get serious for one minute?”

“Sure. Sixty seconds, starting now.”

"Nice."

"Whatever."

Artemis gaped at him. “What the hell is your problem? I thought we were okay!”

“Oh, yeah, absolutely, we’re totally fine, no, really.” _We were totally fine before my team fell in love with you and, for some reason, no one wants to bring up the part where you tried to commit patricide, and now we’re suddenly best friends, and -_

There was no reason. Literally, no reason he was angry. At the moment, her entire existence was just...frustrating. Artemis was flitting through all the moral gray areas and leaving a trail of destruction behind her, and no one else seemed to think it was a problem. If they did, they certainly weren’t bothering to reprimand her.

“I don’t know what I did _this_ time to piss you off, but is there any chance you can stow it until this is over?’

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. I am the model of professionalism.”

Artemis looked like she wanted to punch a hole right through his forehead. She gave an exaggerated sigh, visibly choking down the anger _._ “When are you going to let this go? Seriously, can I get a ballpark figure? We’re supposed to be teammates.”

“I don't know, Artemis. How many times are you going to try to kill people behind my - _our_ backs?” His tone came out sharper than he wanted. It felt like a dulled blade that had been smacked against rocks a few too many times, but still knew how to cut.

“Ugh, you are such a child!” She sped up several steps, trying to keep in front of him.

An unwilling smirk pulled at his lips. “Wait. Are you trying to run ahead of me?”

“Maybe.” Her eyebrows narrowed so deeply they nearly submerged the gray in her irises.

“Did you forget I can literally break the sound barrier before I break a sweat?”

 _“No.”_ She started running faster; her blonde ponytail swinging furiously in tandem with her pumping legs. Wally tried not to notice the sweat glistening around her collarbone and clenched his fists to stop imagining what the softness of her skin must feel like.

“Who’s being a child now?” He kept up with her effortlessly, his feet flying around corners with irritating ease.

“Nope, still you.”

“You are so stubborn.”

“Oh, like you aren’t?” 

 _“Artemis, Kid Flash!”_ Aqualad’s voice over the mental link splintered their near-violent tension.

 _“What?!”_ they snapped in unison. 

_“We have Cheshire in the main wrestling room on the south end. Report here, then be ready to retreat to the bioship. It would not be wise to linger any longer.”_

Wally breathed a sigh of relief. _“Roger that, oh fearless leader.”_ At least their kamikaze mission was almost over. Maybe they wouldn’t have to deal with Artemis’s dad after all. Although, knowing Sportsmaster, he was probably lying in wait, hiding in the rafters or something. “Hope you’re up for some _more_ running because they’re on the opposite end of the building,” he said aloud.

“Hey,” Artemis said. His feet stopped moving at the sound. She stood directly in his path, her breathing ragged and sweat outlining her mask. “I’m serious. I really am trying.”

Wally cast his eyes to the floor and rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, I know.”

“Then why are you so upset?”

“I’m not - I just...” There was no rhyme or reason for it, he just didn’t want to forgive her. He didn’t like it when she had girl talk with M’gann, or teased him with Dick, or flirted with Conner, or... _oh._  

That’s why he was angry. Jealousy. Of all the stupid, juvenile, dumbass reasons. Jealous that she was befriending his team so easily, but they couldn’t have a two second conversation without it turning into a cage fighting match.

Because the new, friendly, non-homicidal Artemis was a stranger to him. That’s what he really hated.

Before his brain could take in what he was doing, his hand had landed on her shoulder and his fingertips dug into the fabric of her top. His thumb skimmed along her bare skin. Maybe it was a hallucination, but he could have sworn he felt the faintest vibration of a shiver along her arm. Artemis stared back, questioning his touch but not shying away.

“Look,” he said. “You’re one of the good guys now, and that _means_ something. You represent everything we stand for now, and killing is not what we do. Just...say you understand that.”

“I do.”

“Good. And, put a little faith in me next time!” he added. The words were flowing now; dangerously close to a ramble. “Because, believe it or not, no matter how much of a jerk I am, or how often we bicker, I will _always_ have your back. Trust me on that.” 

Artemis smiled at him and, damn it all, Wally could see the universe in the edges of her smile. “Likewise.”

Just like that his irritation faded. He liked this new Artemis just fine. As long as he could see himself reflected in her storm gray eyes and her smile was glinting his way, he could live like this forever.

“Come on. Let’s go save your sister.”

* * *

 

Kaldur and Roy rounded what felt like the fiftieth corner. No one had yet to respond with the location and the hour grew late. Kaldur could feel the moisture already drying from his hands. It had been some time since his last adversary. Only the final boss could be left at this point.

“Kaldur,” Roy hissed.

He followed his friend’s gaze to a pair of large, swinging double doors across the hall. A dull light was shining in the transom windows, and a dirty plaque read “Wrestling Room.”

They nodded to each other. With the exception of the swimming pool - which Kaldur had so enjoyed fighting next to he wished all their missions took place in athletic buildings - it was the largest room in the complex. Perfect for holding hostages, as well as a final battle. But Kaldur couldn’t afford to think along those lines.

Kaldur nudged the door open to peer within, then carefully opened it all the way. They both braced themselves in anticipation of a trip wire or heat sensor, muscles clenching ever so slightly. When nothing happened, they rushed inside. Sure enough, in the din a lone figure with jet black hair sat slumped in the middle of an enormous wrestling mat. Cheshire’s mask lay discarded at her feet and a single strand of hair was stuck to her cheek with dried blood from the jagged cut on her forehead.

Roy immediately slung his bow over his shoulder and sprinted to help her. He was so solely focused on her that he neglected to check the rest of the room. But it could not be helped. 

Kaldur had never seen his old friend so enthusiastic over a girl - even a potentially psychopathic assassin. However, thanks to recent events and a certain new teammate, Kaldur had become less prone to snap judgments regarding a person’s character.

 _“M’gann, link us up. We have located Cheshire,”_ he reported while scanning the room. His deep eyes raked over the exits, the entrances, the dusty mats in the corner, and the boarded windows set high above the wooden bleachers.

 _“Oh, thank goodness,”_ M’gann readily exclaimed. _“I’ve got Conner and Robin with me, we’re on our way.”_

 _“I shall see you momentarily,”_ he replied. _“Artemis, Kid Flash.”_

 _“What?!”_ Their shrill voices exploded over the frequency. Kaldur nearly missed a step in surprise. How could they still not be getting along? 

_“We have Cheshire in the main wrestling room on the south end. Report here, then be ready to retreat to the bioship. It would not be wise to linger any longer.”_

_“Roger that, oh fearless leader.”_

With his team readying for a hasty escape, Kaldur would not allow himself the slightest breath of reprieve. They were not out of the woods yet. “How is she?” he asked.

Roy was bent in front of Cheshire, cupping her cheek with hand and feeling for a pulse with the other. “Still breathing,” he confirmed. “Hold on, lemme try something.” He lightly slapped her across the face. Kaldur would have protested, but the sand was speeding through their hourglass. 

After a moment, Cheshire began to stir. Her eyelids cracked open, squinting against the light. Upon recognizing the man before her, she smiled weakly. “Y’can’t buy a girl a drink first?” Her voice sounded crumpled and dry like balled up sandpaper. 

Roy rolled his eyes. “Yeah, she’s fine.” There was no denying the relief welled up in his throat. Kaldur smiled slightly, and pretended not to notice when he stroked away the bloodied hair with his thumb. “C’mon, we’re getting you out of here.”

Her senses gradually restoring, Cheshire’s eyes snapped open and she jerked forward with force enough to launch herself at Roy’s arms. She gripped his forearm fiercely, digging her nails into the skin. She spoke with difficulty; her cracked lips unable to rasp the sounds properly. “T-t-”

“There’s no time,” Roy tried to say. “We’ve got to-”

Kaldur catapulted himself over the ropes to hear her properly. Something was very wrong. Their mission was in peril. Their _lives_ were in peril. Every follicle of hair on the back of his neck stood as though jolted with electricity.

“Trap,” she uttered breathlessly. “R-Red. It’s a trap.”

“What?”

A bulky shadow passed under the cracked fluorescent lights and landed behind them with a thud loud enough to cause tremors to Kaldur’s very bones. The figure had jumped from the rafters. In two moves, faster than the eye could follow, Roy was struck in the face and Kaldur was thrown bodily in the air. His shoulder took the brunt of the fall, plunging into the merciless cement with a muffled crack. The pain of dislocation was nothing compared to the sinking sensation of dread that accompanied his shame.

Sportsmaster lifted Roy by the quiver and smirked in his bruised face. “She said, it’s a trap, kid.”


	14. The Fight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Well, we're down to the second-to-last chapter. Thanks everyone for your patience, anticipation, motivation, and general all-around fantasticness. The finale chapter will take some time as this is my final year of college, so go easy on me please!

 

"Would you hurry up? We're gonna be the last ones there!"

Artemis was worn out from their juvenile running contest. There was something about Wally that brought out all the childish quirks she thought she'd abandoned after puberty. Not that their competition even mattered; he was clearly humoring her. She could see him practically sweating with the effort it took to run at her comparatively snail slow pace.

"Yeah, wouldn't want to be late for the obvious trap," she shot back through labored breaths. "You know he's there waiting for us, right? Batman might as well have served us  _and_ the Justice League on a silver platter."

"Probably," Wally replied nonchalantly.

Artemis almost tripped. "Are you saying you know it's a trap?"

"Trap with a capital 'T.' Oh, yeah."

"Then why the  _hell_  are we doing this?!" Her voice rose in pitch and volume with each word. She half-expected her ears to expel steam and make a sound like a train whistle.

" _Because_  we have a plan."

"A plan," she echoed.

"Yep."

Artemis threw her hands in the air and started jogging even faster. "Great. Somehow I don't feel comforted by that at all."

* * *

 

_PWOOSSSHHH_

A dozen arrows ejected from Roy's quiver at his touch and exploded in the air above them. A mixture of tear gas, smoke screen, and pepper spray surrounded them in a mushroom cloud of steam. Sportsmaster coughed and dropped the archer, waving his arms frantically the clear the air.

Roy shaded his already burning eyes with arm and hoisted Cheshire roughly onto his shoulder like a sack of flour with other. He jumped blindly from the ring and landed hard on the cement. Cheshire winced and coughed, but said nothing.

He sprinted to Kaldur's side. "I've got her, let's go."

As though on cue, Robin, M'gann, and Conner appeared in the doorway behind them. Conner held out his hands and Roy handed him Jade, who was still fighting for consciousness. Her breathing was still shallow and her eyes flickered weakly, but she had strength to hold on to Conner's sinewy neck for support. Roy tried to ignore the stab of envy in his stomach at the way the Kryptonian could lift her in the crook of one arm without the slightest difficulty.

"Everyone present and accounted for?" he asked.

M'gann shook her head. "Still no Kid Flash or Artemis. It's not like him to be late."

"Are you kidding? It's exactly like him," Robin smirked. "C'mon, we'll collect them on the way out."

Kaldur nodded. "Very well. Stand back."

He withdrew his water bearers and thrust them forwards. A wave of water rose at his command and flooded the rooms with crashing rapids. The last of the smoke had cleared from around Sportsmaster's head when he was knocked for a loop by the tidal wave and went flying across the gym. And, as momentum would have it, the wave hit the wall and made its way back, splashing over the teams' heads. In seconds, they were up to their knees in water.

Jade groaned and struggled to wipe her soggy bangs from her face. "I really hate you people."

"No, you don't," Roy replied with a smirk. She would be just fine.

* * *

 

Artemis didn't know how much further they had to run, but the goosebumps popping like daisies on her arm said they were close.

Wally was still explaining their vague plan. "Don't worry, as long as Kaldur's there it'll be fine. He's our secret weapon. They'll knock him for a loop, we grab Jade, and then we run like Darkseid's on our tail."

Artemis had long since tired of gaping at him in disbelief. "This is still the worst plan I've ever heard," she said.

"Wow, you do not sugar coat things, do you?" Wally shrugged. "Okay, that's just our initial attack phase of the plan. What we're really counting on is a little thing called back-up."

"Is there another team of idiot super powered teenagers waiting outside for our signal?" Artemis deadpanned.

"Even better. The League is monitoring us from their headquarters. If, for some reason, our plan backfires, our mentors will be here in seconds. They're just waiting for a signal."

"I thought the League was off-planet!" she blustered.

"There's no interplanetary crisis. Even if there were they wouldn'thave told us," he said with a note of bitterness. "We've never even seen their headquarters."

Interesting. So there was tension between the team and their mentors. She wondered if that tension drove them to forming a teen team in the first place. "You mean, you've never seen the Watch Tower?" she asked.

Wally's mouth nearly fell open. "Wha - how do  _you_  know about the Watch Tower?"

Artemis threw her hands up with frustration. "Everyone knows! It's a giant satellite in space! Once a month, some half-witted, bottom tier super villain tries to launch a missile at it, and it literally blows up in their faces."

"Oh. Right. But you see? We have a plan. Plus, a back-up plan, that's two plans."

"Great, awesome, really excellent, and was there any reason -  _any reason -_ I wasn't filled in on these two brilliant plans of yours?"

Wally sucked in a guilty breath, hissing through his teeth. "About that. You were being tested. Batman wanted to make sure you could operate on the fly. He called it a teamwork trust exercise or something. You didn't think we were just going to throw you out into the field without a little insurance, did you?" There was an unholy level of smugness on his face.

A throbbing muscle nearly popped itself out of her forehead in irritation. She whacked him on the arm. "Unbelievable! After all the crap you gave me about lying!"

He raised his hands in defense. "Hey, whoa, not my plan, not my lie. Batman was behind everything, like he always is. So if you need someone to blame, blame him."

Before she could burst out into another retort, they had turned the corner and, lo and behold, the gym doors were straight ahead. Her calve muscles nearly cried with relief.

Knowing her father and sister were directly behind those doors made Artemis's nerves razor-sharp, digging into the sides of her head like needles. She shook her head to clear the clouding anxiety and put her all into a final sprint. "Whatever, let's get this over with."

"That's the spirit."

* * *

 

They burst through the doors, completely out of breath, only to find the sight of a waterlogged room and their drenched teammates. Sportsmaster's motionless form had landed on a stack of dumbbells and didn't seem to be getting up. It was like an indoor tsunami had just plowed its way through the room and vanished.

"Aw, man," Wally moaned. "Did we miss all the action?"

Robin fist-bumped him upon arrival. "Just in time for our daring escape."

Artemis stood on her toes to peer across the room. "Is he out for good?"

"Don't know, don't care," Roy replied. "Get ready to run because we're leaving,  _now."_  And he pushed them back towards the doors.

Thinking about the mission in retrospect, Artemis would come to realize that there were several factors the team had overestimated in their escape plan. For one thing, their only means of escape - short of blasting a hole in the ceiling - was a single door. For another, they had assumed the building's decrepit nature meant it was technologically out of date. And for a third, they had not realized Sportsmaster's inability to stand didn't mean he couldn't push a button.

There was a faint  _click,_  and a slightly louder  _whirrrr_ , and the double doors had swung shut of their own accord.

"What the -?"

"Did that door just lock?

Superboy was first to seize the initiative, and rammed his shoulder into the wall. It didn't give way. When he fell back, they found a small dent in the reinforced, Kryptonian-proof plating.  _That_  was when Artemis began to panic.

"Miss Martian, phase us out,  _now!_ " Kaldur ordered quickly.

"Everyone grab hands!" M'gann's eyes glowed and crackled with energy. Artemis could see their bodies begin to turn transparent.

Before they could phase, a raging shock wave shot through them like an invisible gatling gun peppering them with bullets. Each member of the team fell to the ground, gripping the sides of their heads and screaming in pain. Artemis's head was on fire and her insides felt liquified. The waves pulsed through her body, disrupting her heartbeat, and rattled her brain around her skull like a rebounding tennis ball.

Mercy came when it stopped. The relief was enough to turn her knees to jelly. The team had nearly been knocked out by the blast; pure resilience was the only thing keeping their heads afloat. Artemis slapped some water from the slowly draining puddles on her face. When it didn't work, she pinched herself to stay vigilant. Sportsmaster was regaining his strength.

"So," she croaked. "About that back-up plan?"

"Working on it," said Robin. He started fiddling with his wristwatch. The electric blue screen refused to pop out or even tell him the time. "Electronics are busted," he groaned. "That means no distress signal. We just got re-trapped."

Artemis rolled onto her side to face Aqualad. "Any ideas?"

His eyes were barely open. "I-I am afraid not."

_Crap._ In her experience, this was usually where the good guys slapped her in handcuffs and threw her in jail. That was the bright side of evil: failure doesn't usually end in gruesome death. Unfortunately, gruesome death was exactly what her father had in mind.

She could see his steel-toed boots hit the ground and pace closer, ever closer. With the last vestiges of strength, she pushed herself off the ground. Pride wouldn't allow her to be lying on the ground when she finally faced her father.

"Artemis," said Lawrence once he'd taken his time sauntering over. "Good to see you."

Her lips still thrummed with residual vibration. "Nice trick."

"You like? A gift from some old friends. You've met Monsieur Mallah and the Brain, yeah? Big, dirty ape with a French accent and his pal, the disembodied brain? They owed me a favor or two. Only works once, but, as you can see, it's damn effective."

"Down, but not out, huh, Dad?"

"That's right. Speaking of debts to be paid, you're in pretty deep, baby girl. Time to pay up."

"I hope you don't mean with my life, because it's spoken for," she said lightly. "And I don't owe you shit."

He pointed a thick finger at her, shaking ever so slightly from his consuming anger. "That's where you're wrong, Artemis.  _I_  raised you. Put a roof over your head, paid for your clothes, put you through school. I taught you everything I knew, and now I'm exiled in disgrace. All because of your little stunt. Years of faithful service, and suddenly Ra's al Ghul decided I was a security risk," he pointed a thick, shaking finger at her face. "Because of  _you._  After everything you owe me. And now, I'm coming to collect."

Artemis nearly trembled with rage. "You're insane," she hissed. "A real piece of work. This isn't about debt; it's your own damn pride. Your reputation is ruined, and you think it's mine and Jade's fault. That's all this is. Don't pretend it's something as stupid as debt."

He shrugged in relent. "What can I say? Reputation is all a man has in our business."

The others were starting to lift themselves off the ground. Jade was out cold; she was too weak and the blast had been the last straw. Superboy managed to move her out of harm's way and then helped M'gaan up on his firm arm. Wally took longer to stand; whatever flavor of vibration waves they'd been shot with seemed to interfere with his powers. But when he and the others made it to their feet, they formed a tight circle behind her.

"No," she said. Her team's energy surrounded her like a protective cocoon. "No, not 'our.' Don't you ever say 'our business' to me again. I'm done with the Shadows. And I'm definitely done with you."

"Give it up, Sportsmaster," said Robin with a shit-eating grin. "Our back-up's already on the way. You've got no hostage, no men, and no chance."

Artemis grinned along with him. "Odds are against you, old man. And I'm gonna enjoy watching you grow old behind bars."

Her father let out a rumbling laugh. "Back-up, huh? Birdboy, the JL ain't coming to save you." He pulled out a smartphone from his pocket, pressed some buttons, and slid it across the floor where it spun and stopped at her feet. Livestream footage. The phone emitted tinny pops of gunfire and yells that echoed in the silent gym. Artemis's heart sank when the unmistakable red and blue silhouette of Superman zoomed past the screen.

_Say it isn't so, say it isn't so..._

"I hate to break it to you kids, but about ten minutes ago your back-up got...well, sidetracked." His smile dripped with malice. "It looks like an international incident sprang up at the Rhelasian border. According to eyewitnesses, an American soldier shot and gravely injured a Rhelasian mother and child."

M'gann clasped a hand over her mouth to stifle her gasp.

"As you can see, your mentors are busy trying to stop a war from breaking out. And given the politics of having superhuman interference in war zones, they could be busy for a  _long_  time."

_Well, shit._  They were cornered. Even Superman couldn't escape from the public eye quick enough without attracting attention and provoking an international dispute. Artemis was almost impressed.

"Wow, Dad," she said. "That must've taken you almost a hundred favors to pull off. You'll be neck-deep in debt for years, and all just to kill little ol' me? I'm touched."

"My pleasure," he sneered. "And now that we've got time, I think we need to settle this once and for all."

"I couldn't agree more." Artemis took a half-step forward until Wally's hand snaked out and seized her by the shoulder.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"Settling things."

"Remember our conversation about throwing yourself into dangerous situations?" he hissed. "This is the definition of a very,  _very_  dangerous situation." His eyes were almost desperate.  _"Artemis, please. You promised you weren't going to try and throw your life away."_

She shook her head.  _"This is different, I swear."_

Lawrence drifted backwards to the boxing ring in the middle of gym. "Tell y'what," he said, cutting off their mental bickering. "I'll cut you a deal. This here is a family matter. If I give you tot Shadows, they'll hold a trial, you'll be found guilty, and they'll execute you and Jade for being ungrateful turncoats. I'm thinking, there's no need to get the Shadows  _or_  the super brats involved."

"I'm listening."

"One-on-one, you and me," he continued. "You win, you walk away. I win…well, you know what happens when I win."

Artemis shook off Wally's hand and stepped forward, ignoring his telepathic outbursts. Somehow, she knew this is how things would play out. It felt like fate. "All right," she said. "But no weapons and no toys. Fist to fist, just like old times."

Lawrence's laugh was low and guttural. "Didn't think I could ever convince you to part from your precious bow and arrow. You've got a deathwish, baby girl."

She cocked her head to the side and raised an eyebrow. "I've picked up a few tricks since last time we fought. You might be surprised."

He considered her for a moment, then crossed his arms. "Fine. I'm guessing you want these punks to walk away if you win, right?"

"And Jade," she corrected.

"Only if you win."

Conner piped up angrily behind her. "And what's stopping us from backing her up?"

"I'm glad you asked." Sportsmaster shot a smug grin at the team, and snapped his fingers. Immediately, the unmistakable whirring of a dozen laser cannons charging to life echoed through the gym. Their glowing red laser pointers immediately settled on the forehead of each member of the team, all of whom froze in place on instinct.

Artemis felt her heart sink and burn its way down to her stomach.  _There's always a plan B._

"Those lasers are hardwired to lock onto your DNA signatures. Except mine and Artemis's, of course. Had a few of my grunts collect samples while you were fighting. Take one step, and you'll be incinerated in seconds."

"You've got to be kidding," Superboy growled through clenched teeth.

"Damn you," Artemis spat. "This is low. Just how many toys did you borrow for tonight?"

"You wanted a fair fight. Now, we're even."

"And what guarantee do we have you will not shoot even if she wins?" Aqualad challenged, his deep voice pulsing with anger.

Lawrence's smile oozed like black tar, slowly and evenly across his face. "Absolutely nothing," he said.

The team didn't say a word, but she could feel their tension collectively rise like pressure in a valve. She could see Superboy's biceps clenching tight, Aqualad's eyes searching around the room fast as light, M'gann's cape rippling around her feet without a breeze, and Robin's hands lingered above his utility belt at the ready. Wally's eyes boring into hers like a deep emerald flame. There was something about his steady gaze that set her chest on fire.

She could feel them inside her head. They wanted to help, to act, to do  _something._  They wanted to protect  _her._  Of all people.

Artemis was furious. She had never felt so much protective energy around her. Their thoughts sent an ebbing warmth of confidence through her veins. Her fists gripped tighter, her scowl dipped deeper, and her eyes burned brighter.

They were her team. And her father wanted to take them away from her. The same way he robbed her of a childhood, of a mother, of a life. The thought alone was maddening. The wildfire of her anger burned a smoldering path through all the emotions overwhelming her - fear, hesitation, regret - until only white-hot fury remained. For once, her mind was completely clear. For once, she knew exactly what to do.

Artemis steeled her resolve and took one step forward. "Stay back," she said. "I'm handling this."

Wally's teeth were gritted so tight, sparks practically emitted from the friction. "I hope you know what you're doing," he said, at the same time thinking,  _"This is a bad idea."_

"Put a little faith in me. Okay?" She smiled encouragingly.  _"Don't worry. I think I just came up with a plan and this fight is gonna buy us time."_

He nodded curtly, still glowering.  _"Don't take this the wrong way, but I don't feel comforted by that at all."_

" _Shut up,"_  she retorted, biting back a smirk all the same.  _"Here I go."_

Artemis swung her legs over the boxing arena's red and blue ropes. The mat was still damp and riddled with puddles from what she assumed was Kaldur's last attack. She could use the water to her advantage, but so could he.

Lawrence made a showy display of tossing his javelin to the side. It slipped off the mat and fell to the floor with a resounding crash, cracking a hole into the concrete. She swallowed a lump in her throat. The reminder of her father's herculean strength did little to inspire confidence in her chances.

"Last man standing, then."

"I was gonna say 'last woman,' but that'd just be redundant," she sneered.

"Kick his ass, Artemis!" Robin hollered from below. The rest of the team followed his lead and began shouting furiously at the top of their lungs. Their voices set her veins ablaze with fighting spirit, like they were standing right beside her.

Artemis spread her feet evenly, set her shoulders back, and raised her fists. He did the same. It was no different from the endless childhood sparring matches that always ended with her gasping and coughing for air while her father stood over her and yelled until his face turned purple.

But this time was different. She wasn't a child anymore. And she had a plan.

" _We have to do this while he's distracted,"_ she said. _"M'gann, you don't need to move to use telepathy, right?"_

" _Right,"_ M'gann replied.

" _Can you disconnect the lasers?"_  Artemis scanned the ceiling while she paced tiger-like around the edges of the arena. She was tried to mirror her father's movements, keeping him a tactical distance.  _"From what I can see, they're wired into the same fixtures as the fluorescents."_

While she spoke, Lawrence made the first move. His stance was perfectly erect and balanced. His fists came swinging with the force and velocity of a whip, snapping back like a cobra's head striking. Then he changed styles, squaring his shoulders, and a leg the size of a tree trunk caught her in the stomach, blasting her backwards. She had raised her forearms to block the brunt of the blow, but the taut rubber ropes caught her hard enough to lose feeling in her shoulders.

" _I see them,"_ said Robin.  _"And I know where you're going with this, but even with telepathy M'gann can't cut through the wires. They'll set off sparks and Sportsmaster will know what we're doing."_

Artemis shook her head minutely and dodged another charging attack.  _"She doesn't_ need  _to cut them. I've worked with these...before."_ She dodged again. Left, right, right again. His blows were getting predictable. _"They're the older models. I wouldn't be surprised...if he raided the Shadows' basement...before they excommunicated him."_

The telepathic conversation split her focus in half, causing a few clips to the shoulder when she wasn't looking. Lawrence was toying with her. It would've been insulting if his overconfidence weren't the only thing standing between her and being crushed into a bloody pulp.

" _That's great, but can you get to the part where we do something?"_ Red Arrow demanded. He did  _not_  work well under pressure, she decided.

" _What I'm saying is that these old models, they're plugged in! He's made some adjustments, but the plugs...have got to be the same."_  Another body blow, followed by an elbow jab to the face. She avoided both by nearly losing her balance after stepping in a puddle. Lucky. _"There should be a small wire...connecting the barrel to the muzzle. If we can disconnect those…"_

" _I hadn't thought of that,"_  Robin mused.  _"But that does sound plausible. Not to mention that'll be some serious precision work."_

_"Find those…unplug them one by one…and he won't have a leg to stand on."_  The thought made her swipe under his legs to knock his balance, but he twisted at the last second and intercepted her. His fist caught her square in the stomach and sent her flying back against the ropes. "Ugh," she grunted, doubling over.  _"So to speak."_

_"I'll see what I can do,"_ M'gann promised.  _"Just please…be careful."_

" _Little late for that."_  Artemis's throat seized and with a hacking cough she spat out a mouthful of blood. It spattered on the canvas like a splash of crimson paint. First of many, she thought wryly.

She danced back to the corner to steal a quick breath and snuck a peek behind at the team. Superboy had shifted Jade's body so that M'gann's glowing eyes were hidden behind her sister's extended legs. The others were hollering louder than ever to distract any of her father's stray focus. She had long since tuned out their voices, except for the occasional smirk at Wally and Robin's outraged expletives. The low buzz of their cheering was a comfort. They trusted her. Believed in her. And she was going to show them just how much she'd earned it.

* * *

 

They traded blows for what felt like hours. For every decent punch Artemis could land, Lawrence had upped his hit count thrice over. The contrast between her lean frame and his brickwall of dense muscle meant a world of different. He was too familiar with her style; hell, he'd taught her everything she knew about using a larger opponent's size against them.

But he didn't know  _all_  her tricks.

First chance she could, Artemis sprinted to the colored ropes. She needed height, and for that she needed leverage. Lawrence followed, stalking slowly like an animal, waiting to see her next move. A bowl of chalk that kick boxers used to coat their hands with stood just outside the ring in between them. He noticed her eyes dart towards it.

"Not thinking of playing dirty, are we?" He sneered.

Artemis feigned a guilty swallow. "Of course not. We agreed on a fair fight, no holds barred."

"Hmph," he snorted. "Then you won't mind if I remove the temptation."

Just as he leaned over the ropes to push the bowl away, she sprang into action. It was a move deemed to risky to try because it was easy to see coming, but not if the target in question was facing the other way.

Artemis swiftly seized the ropes and jumped high enough to perch her feet on the uppermost one, clinging to the ropes like a monkey. One bounce was all it took to spring into the air and, just as her father turned his head to react, she landed foot-first in his face. His nose made a satisfying crunch under her boot.

The team whooped even louder. Wally and Robin yelled, "Ohhhhhhh!" like a couple of frat brothers, celebrating in place. She caught Wally's eye and grinned.  _That one was just for you,_  she wanted to say.

Lawrence righted himself almost immediately. His nose bled freely, dripping over his mouth. He wiped it away and, with a sickening  _crack,_ forced his nose back into place. A distinct shiver ran up Artemis's spine; her clever move would cost her. She had not only broken his nose, but his pride as well. Suddenly, he was no longer toying with her. He wa punishing her. The blows came faster, more frequently, and each had the destructive force of a steel hammer, or so it felt to her already bruised body.

After a third knee to the stomach, Artemis retreated back to the corner again and assessed the collected damage. Bruised shoulder, bruised ribs, swollen left eye, split lip, bleeding knuckles. Mostly superficial stuff. If she could avoid any critical hits she might still stand a chance in hell.

" _How's it going, M'gann?"_  She dodged another punch and drove her elbow into his side, just below the ribs. Lawrence twisted his body in time so that her elbow sunk into his abdominals, absorbing the blow's momentum and making it ineffectual. She danced back to the ropes to avoid his reversal _"Don't want to rush you or anything, but I'm not looking so hot."_

" _You should know that I'm holding back a really obvious, inappropriate comment right now,"_  Wally mentioned. He'd been doing an ace job of lightening the mood. It was impressive, considering her situation.

" _And I appreciate it, Kid."_  It felt crazy to smile; she knew she must look like a maniac on the outside, but even two seconds of banter was enough to kick up her confidence.

M'gann's telepathic voice came out strangled with effort.  _"Almost done, almost done. Just hold on, hang on, almost got it…"_

But she'd been distracted one time too many. Lawrence had ripped off the kid gloves and charged at her point blank. He was impatient. Artemis tried to leap out of the way, but he was too fast. He backhanded her with an arm like a sledgehammer, and, while she was off balance, lifted her bodily into the air. For a single moment, weightless above her father's head, Artemis could see the team, their eyes wide and gasping. Then he threw her.

The mat was rock-hard and unforgiving. She flung out her hands to catch the canvas and stop herself from sliding right out of the ring, ignoring the canvas scraped and burned her skin.

M'gaan screamed. Her eyes had stopped glowing.

Artemis almost waved a hand to stop her.  _"Don't worry about me! Keep going!"_  she yelled through the psychic link. When M'gaan still didn't tear her eyes away, she used the last of her adrenaline to jump back on her feet. Her eyes practically spun in their sockets, and every bone and muscle protested violently, screaming inside her. But she had to keep going.

She struggled to stand upright, swaying slightly. "Can I just say? For a man blatantly trying to commit homicide, you're not very efficient about it," she taunted.

"You think so?"

"Still breathing, last time I checked."

"Then I'd be careful, if I were you. Your next breath might be your last."

Her eyes narrowed into slits. "Don't give me the crap villain shtick, Dad. Theatrics were never your style."

"Fair enough." He punctuated the words with another punch. She couldn't dodge. Her reaction time had dulled with the last throw, and she ended up catching his fist clumsily with her hands, hoping to absorb the blow. But his weight was set too firmly back, and he pushed through her defenses like a hot knife in butter, connecting a solid hit at her ribs.

A high-pitched snap like a pencil breaking echoed from her chest. Artemis fell to her knee, one hand clutching her side. Her bruised rib had snapped. It was a pure miracle she wasn't bleeding into her abdomen by now.

Yet, again, she stood.

"Aw, just stay down, baby girl." Lawrence sidled over, his arms relaxed behind his head. "Don't bother getting up. It'll be over soon."

Artemis raised her bloodied fists. "No can do, Dad. Not this time."

Before this, another lifetime ago, the only person she had to look out for was herself. For a while, that was enough. The line between life and death was flimsy and transparent. It was only one life, after all. One tiny, worthless, no one wanted around. What was so great about living anyway, she used to think. There was nothing special about her life. A mother behind bars. A sister floating in the wind. A father she could never please. A lifetime of failure after failure, and stinging retribution at every turn.

That was the old Artemis. New Artemis knew what kind of life she wanted, and how to take it with her own two hands. Now there was a solid iron wall covered top to bottom with barbed wire and lasers and machine guns between her and death. Dying wasn't an option. Not anymore.

" _Last one, last one…got it!"_  M'gaan exclaimed.

" _Yes!"_  Artemis's guard slipped for a millisecond. Just enough time for Lawrence's elbow to plow her in the chest. All the breath left her body in one great swoop. Steaming blood filled her mouth. Through her heavy eyelids she could see the steel toes of her father's boots in front of her. She raised her head and spat it out on Lawrence's boot then hastily scooted backwards when he retaliated with a heavy kick.

Sticky strands of crimson dangled from her chin. She wiped them away and rose to sitting position against the ropes. "Red looks good on you," she gasped.

"You're gonna pay for that, you little -" Lawrence swung wildly and caught the empty air.

Artemis pushed back on her feet and bounced a couple times to get the feeling back. Every cell in her body was on fire, but she didn't care. Because behind Lawrence's back, the telltale red laser pointers had disappeared and her friends were approaching the mat one silent step at a time. Boundless, stupid confidence was surging through her body now. Her feet felt jittery with anticipation; she felt like she could run a few more races with Wally when this was over. It was time for a counter attack.

" _You know what we need? A good distraction,"_  she thought with some whimsical nonchalance.  _"Any ideas?"_

" _How about your speciality?"_  Wally suggested.

Artemis turned to catch a glimpse of his mischievous grin and smirked in reply.  _"You got it."_

" _On the count of three,"_  said Kaldur.

Artemis ran directly at Lawrence, ducked, and used the momentum to slide under his reach like a baseball player running into home.

_One._ She retreated to the edge of the mat and leaned casually against the ropes.

_Two._ M'gann materialized behind her, holding her quiver in outstretched arms.

Lawrence's eyes widened just in time.

_Three!_


End file.
